KHÁNH HOÀ – Construction of a reservoir to collect water leaking from the Hòn Rọ dumping site in the central Khánh Hoà Province’s Ninh Hoà Commune must be completed soon, the People’s Committee has said.

At a dialogue held on Thursday between the provincial People’s Committee, Ninh Hoà Commune’s People’s Committee and residents, committee chairman Lê Đức Vinh said the reservoir must be built before the end of this June to curb heavy pollution in the commune.

Residents in Ninh Ích Village complained that the Hòn Rọ dumping site has a terrible smell and water leaking from the garbage site is polluting the water source, affecting the lives and health of people in the village since last year.

Residents had reported the situation to the local authority on several occasions, but there was no improvement yet.

Finally, following a long period of suffering, in February, they decided to block garbage trucks from entering the site as a way of protest.

Reacting to the people’s anger, Vinh said he sympathised with the inconvenience and disturbance faced by the residents. However, he said the blocking of garbage trucks had caused difficulties for the local authority in dealing with domestic waste, as more than 60 tonnes of waste is discharged each day on average.

Vinh said in 2015, the province had invested in building a new garbage site with high technology to bury waste. However, in late 2016, dirty water began leaking due to the heavy rainfall, causing serious pollution.

He reprimanded Ninh Hoà Commune’s People’s Committee for not solving the problem quickly and completely and asked locals to remain calm and wait for solutions from the local authority.

To solve the problem, Vinh said the authorised agency was building a reservoir to collect water leaking from the dumping site. The agency would also take measures to isolate toxic substances contained in water. Further, the landfill would be fixed before July 30, he added.

He also asked the commune’s People’s Committee to invite representatives of the residents to participate in the implementation of the solution to address the pollution.

After all the tasks were completed, authorized agencies would inspect the quality of waste water and air and the operation of the landfill thrice a month. The frequency of inspection would be decreased to once or twice per month in subsequent months.

An automatic monitoring centre would also be set up in Ninh Ích Village to identify violations.

This May, the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment would inspect the wells of 42 households to evaluate the quality of water. The provincial Department of Health would send doctors to provide health checks for affected residents in the village, Vinh said. – VNS