HCM CITY— More than 1.92 million households or 100 per cent of the households in HCM City now have access to tap water, according to the city’s People’s Committee.

The supply of clean water to all families helps improve the quality of life of local people as well protect underground water resources, said Lê Văn Khoa, deputy chairman of the city’s People’s Committee.

The use of water from drilled wells poses a danger to human health, with 92 per cent of water samples taken from wells in the city contaminated with hazardous substances, Khoa said at a ceremony held last Friday.

Sài Gòn Water Supply Corporation (Sawaco) carried out various measures to supply tap water to all families, including the installation of tap water pipelines and water metres at houses as well as building water stations and water towers, said Nguyễn Văn Tám, deputy director of the city’s Department of Transport.

A total of 499,400 households or 26 per cent of total households in the city have accessed tap water since the city’s People’s Council issued a resolution in 2015 that targeted supplying tap water for all the city’s households, Tám said.

The city’s People’s Committee ordered Sawaco to complete the installation of water pipelines and water metres at all households by June 2018.

The committee will encourage the participation of enterprises and investors to fuel the installation of water pipelines running directly to every house, he said.

He asked the city’s Preventive Medicine Centre to carry out regular checks on the quality of tap water.

Nguyễn Thị Quyết Tâm, chairwoman of the city’s People’s Council, asked local authorities to check the access to tap water among local residents to ensure that no household was left behind.

Local people should be educated on the harmful effects of exploiting underground water resources, Tâm said.

This year, Sawaco will invest nearly VNĐ5 trillion (US$221.23 million) to develop 1,126 kilometres of pipelines.

The city planned to complete Kênh Đông and Thủ Đức 4 water factories next year as well as expand an additional 1,000 kilometres of water pipelines by 2019. —VNS