In early 2009 tests by health officials showed widespread contamination of municipal tap and bottled water: High levels of nitrates and arsenic, which can cause cancer, were found, as was e-coli, which causes diarrhoea. Tran Van Nhi, a scientist at the Vietnam Institute of Biotechnology, told IRIN Hanoi’s water was heavily contaminated with ammonia: “It is 6-18 times higher than the allowed level.” Nhi also found arsenic levels two to three times higher than acceptable World Health Organization standards. Most residents boil drinking water as a matter of course, even though high temperatures do not remove arsenic or dangerous heavy metals.
Bottled water
In recent years, as incomes have risen, more people have been buying bottled water. Twenty-litre jugs that sell for around 50 US cents are affordable for most Vietnamese. However, tests on hundreds of brands across the country reveal that bottled water cannot be trusted either. Dozens of samples failed safety standard tests in Ho Chi Minh City in March 2009. “We detected bacterium in our samples, mainly coliform and Pseudomonas aeruginosa,” said Le Truong Giang, deputy director of the city’s health department. Pseudomonas aeruginosa can lead to sepsis and death.
[A]ntiquated water pipes leading from treatment plants to individual households leak, enabling dangerous contaminants to leach in. The long-term solution is to upgrade municipal water supply systems but this requires massive investment. “Water treatment plants can’t meet water demand in the big urban areas,” said Ton. “From now to 2020, Hanoi [which currently produces 600,000 cubic metres of water a day] will have to produce more than one million cubic metres,” to meet demand, said Nguyen Ton, chairman of Vietnam’s Water Supply and Sewage Association in Hanoi. The need to nearly double current capacity will require investment in infrastructure that Hanoi cannot afford, according to Ton.
Source: IRIN, 17 Apr 2009
