HÀ NỘI – Upgrading the water environment of Hoàn Kiếm (Sword) Lake is necessary and urgent work, Võ Tiến Hùng, general director of the Hà Nội Sewage and Drainage Co Ltd., said.

Speaking at a conference on improving the water environment of the lake held in Hà Nội on Wednesday, Hùng said work should be divided into two parts -- dredging mud and clear up waste at the bed of the lake; and treating and maintaining the lake water’s quality.

Hùng estimated that time for dredging mud at the bed of the lake, which was more than 10ha, should be some 69 days.

The lake water will be treated with the Redocy 3C, a substance made by Germany, based on a sole order of the Hà Nội authority.

The treating process was approved by the municipal Department of Construction.

Reports presented at the conference showed that the lake was unable to self-clean. Fish, fauna and flora in the lake were not protected and supplemented properly, so organic chemical in the lake did not become food, but instead became polluted substances.

Mud in the lake bed was becoming thicker and thicker, affecting the living environment of fauna because the mud contained a lot of heavy metal and poisonous air.

Besides this, the density of fugitive flora had increased more and more. As a result, the amount of oxygen had decreased, affecting the existence of different fauna and flora in the lake during the past years.

Representatives at the conference said Hoàn Kiếm Lake was an important cultural and spiritual place of residents in Hà Nội and of the country. Therefore, every plan of upgrading the lake should be considered carefully and should protect the ecological system inside the lake.

Agreeing that upgrading the lake was an urgent task, Professor Hà Đình Đức, an expert specialising in Hoàn Kiếm Lake, said if the lake was not upgraded, it could become a bog and lose useful aquatic animals and plants.

Upgrading should be divided into two stages, he said. The first stage is upgrading the lake and the second stage is assessing the upgrade’s affect on aquatic animals and plants in the lake.

“If the upgrade is not careful, useful seaweed and microorganisms which create the specific green colour of the lake can die,” he said.

Director Hùng from the Hà Nội Sewage and Drainage Co Ltd said a well should be dug to supply water for the lake more actively.

Phạm Tuấn Long, deputy chairman of Hoàn Kiếm District People’s Committee, said the district would improve education, so that residents and tourists would not discharge waste into the lake.

The district would ask enterprises and trading stores around the lake to sign commitments on obeying regulations on environmental protection to better take care of the lake, he said. – VNS