The HCM City Preventive Health Centre will continue to monitor and test tap and ground water quality throughout the city. — Photo nhandan.com.vn

HCM CITY — The HCM City Preventive Health Centre will continue to monitor and test tap and ground water quality throughout the city.

Its tests so far this year found that 42 per cent of 197 well-water samples had low pH values – indicating acidity – while the acceptable range set by the Ministry of Health is 6.0-8.5.

Another 9.14 per cent had ammonia content exceeding the standard of 3 milligrammes per litre. Most of the samples were taken from districts 12, Gò Vấp, Tân Bình, Tân Phú, and Hóc Môn.

A high concentration of iron was found in 2.03 per cent of the samples, most of them obtained from districts 12 and Hóc Môn.

More than 4 per cent was found to contain E.coli and coliform bacteria in excess of the standard of 20 colonies per 100ml.

The bacteria were absorbed by the groundwater from wastewater seeping into it. They cause acute diarrhoea.

The centre’s doctors said water with a low pH value causes itching and badly damages tooth enamel.

The ammonia in groundwater turns into nitrate and nitrite when it comes into contact with oxygen, and they cause methemoglobin when they enter the body, they said.

Nitrate and nitrite associate with amino acids in the body to create nitrosamine, which causes cancer, they said.

They said people living in localities without tap water should treat the groundwater before use since it is mostly polluted.

They urged authorities there to install water pipes.

People who have access to tap water should use it, they said. Many people, especially in districts 9, Hóc Môn, Củ Chi, Gò Vấp, and Bình Tân do not use it because of many reasons, including cost.

But residents of those districts said they do not use tap water because it has a fishy smell.

Người Lao Động (The Labourer) newspaper quoted statistics from the Sài Gòn Water Corporation (SAWACO) saying around 10 per cent of households use a mere one to four cubic metres of water a month.

Hóc Môn has the highest number of households not using tap water: 6,766 out of 27,030.

As of July this year 91.13 per cent of all households in the city were provided with tap water. The rest use water from wells. — VNS