Local residents could not hide their joy when clean water finally entered their house. VNS Photo Xuân Văn

Xuân Văn

THANH HÓA — More than 2,000 households in Hải Hà Commune, in Thanh Hóa’s Nghi Sơn Town could not hide their emotion after water pipes and water meters were finally installed in their houses under the auspices of the Nghi Sơn 2 Power Limited Liability Company (NS2PC).

Hải Hà is a poor, densely populated coastal commune with limited land and underdeveloped infrastructure. Local people used water from wells dug and drilled for their daily needs.

“The depth of drilled wells was less than 10m, since if it’s drilled any deeper the quality will not be good due to black mud and foul water underground. So, we have to use surface water, since water from drilled or dug wells is still brackish and saline,” said a villager.

Local authorities and people of Hải Hà had worked with Bình Minh Clean Water Supply Plant in Nghi Sơn Economic Zone to install clean water pipes, but this plan was cancelled due to high costs while most local people have low incomes, with not enough money to pay for pipeline installation; only a few households in Ha Bac and Ha Tan villages could afford to install clean water pipes.

“NS2PC always considers how we can contribute to the local communities as the “Best neighbour” for the local community on a long-term basis. NS2PC identified the clean water supply is the biggest expectation from Hải Hà Commune, so NS2PC decided to implement the programme on our account,” said Yuji Otsuka, GA Director of NS2PC.

NS2PC has conducted this “Dream Program” since 2018, which has helped provide clean water for a total of 2,018 households as of May 2020.

“Before, clean water was always an issue, especially on rainy days, but now thanks to NS2PC’s funding, this problem has been removed, by this gift from our corporate 'good neighbour'. It is now the property of the community, who manage, maintain and use it very effectively," said head of Hà Đông Village, Mai Tiến Dũng.

Nguyễn Thị Đan, 85 years old, a local resident in Hà Tân Village said: “Now clean water flows to our kitchen. It is really helpful for myself and everyone in Hải Hà.”

Besides the company constructed a hand washing station at the primary school in the commune, facilitating more than 800 pupils to use clean water for their daily sanitation. The practice is expected to encourage small children to obtain the important habit in preventing potential infection disease such as COVID-19. VNS