Over recent years, some wastewater collection systems in Da Nang’s Hoa Khanh Industrial Park (IP) have seriously deteriorated.  Some businesses operating in the IP have therefore been illegally discharging a large volume of untreated industrial effluent into the environment, which has caused severe environmental pollution in some locations and residential areas nearby.  The most polluted hotspot is Trung Son Village in Hoa Vang District’s Hoa Lien Commune.

As of April this year, the IP’s dedicated wastewater treatment plant, which is under the management of the city’s branch of the Ha Noi Urban Environment One Member Limited Company (URENCO), was treating only about 3,000m³ of wastewater per day, but the figure has now increased to 4,600m³.  The rise in the volume of treated wastewater at the plant seems to show that the city’s authorities have detected and dealt with environmental violations at the IP’s businesses over recent months.

The Hoa Khanh IP’s wastewater treatment plant

At a recent meeting, municipal People’s Committee Chairman Huynh Duc Tho asked the city’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment to work closely with other local relevant agencies to tighten their checks and impose heavy punishments for the illegal discharge of untreated wastewater into the environment, in accordance with the city’s regulations.

Chairman Tho has allowed URENCO to develop more wastewater treatment systems in the Hoa Khanh IP in the near future.  He also stressed the need to appeal for more investment in other effluent treatment projects and to increase wastewater treatment fees to match the city’s current situation.