Residents in Vietnam’s Bac Ninh Province breathe foul air

Heavy water and air pollution is hitting a craft village and an industrial cluster in Bac Ninh Province, located in northern Vietnam, posing a threat to public health.

Locals sometimes feel ‘unbreathable’ due to severe air pollution in the Phong Khe Paper Recycling Village in Bac Ninh City and the Phu Lam industrial cluster in Tien Du District.

An empty land lot inundated by black wastewater in the Phu Lam industrial cluster in Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre

Black wastewater is dumped into the environment by paper recycling plants, while garbage is discharged uncontrollably.

Emissions from many plants in the craft village and the industrial cluster are to blame for the deteriorating air.

The Ngu Huyen Khe River near paper production plants in Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam, is heavily polluted and smelly. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre

The Ngu Huyen Khe River, which runs through the two locations, turns polluted and smelly due to the discharge of wastewater and garbage.

Meanwhile, the river flows into the Cau River, which provides water for several water treatment facilities to serve residents in Bac Giang and Bac Ninh Provinces, raising concerns over the safety of drinking water.

Though authorities in the two provinces and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment scrambled to alleviate the pollution, their efforts produced no success.

Bui Quang Huy, director of the Bac Giang Province Department of Natural Resources and Environment, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in mid-March that Bac Ninh Province should closely manage the discharge of garbage in order not to pollute the Cau River, which runs through Bac Kan, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang.

Nine companies in the Phu Lam industrial cluster have been suspended for four or five months since February as they failed to show an environmental license.

Emissions rise from a factory in the Phu Lam industrial cluster in Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre

Smoke comes out through a funnel of a factory, contributing to polluting the environment. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre

Waste is dumped along a bank of the Ngu Huyen Khe River. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre

A paper production workshop in the Phong Khe craft village in Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre

Wastewater from the Phong Khe Paper Recycling Village is discharged into the Ngu Huyen Khe River. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre

Many polluted ponds have formed in the Phong Khe Paper Recycling Village. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre

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