Lack of clean water at... clean water plant

bqbht_br_z6876226968883-910049567ba5c38552e2cf4cc543c27e-copy.jpg — Water plant with total investment of more than 229 billion VND in Huong Khe.

The project of water plant and clean water supply system for people in Huong Khe town and 8 neighboring communes, old Huong Khe district, has a total investment of more than 229 billion VND. The project started in 2020, according to the plan to be completed in 2022, but it was not completed until June 2025 and handed over to the Center for Clean Water and Rural Environmental Sanitation of Ha Tinh province for management and operation. However, at present, the project only supplies water to 85 households in Huong Khe commune, while thousands of other households in the project area still do not have clean water for daily life.

Mr. Dang Van Sinh - Deputy Head of Technical Planning Department (Center for Clean Water and Rural Environmental Sanitation of Ha Tinh province) said: "The Center has received the handover of the main project, however, it is impossible to supply water at the present time because the service water pipeline system in the localities has only been installed 20-30%, so it will require more funding to fully install the water supply pipeline system to households. I hope that the localities and related units will have solutions to install service pipelines, in addition to continuing to propagate and mobilize people to register for use to install water meters".

The equipment is invested quite modernly.

The cause of this problem lies in the fragmented and unsynchronized investment process. The main items of the factory have been completed, but the water pipeline system to each household has been left open or installed haphazardly.

In Huong Do commune, according to the plan, more than 600 households will be provided with clean water. People have also registered to contribute money to install water meters, but have waited for many years without seeing clean water.

Mr. Tran Van Hoa (Tan Huong village, Huong Do commune) shared: His family registered to use the centralized clean water source several years ago, but until now there is still no water for daily use. He and many other people do not understand why the project has been implemented for many years but still cannot provide water, and people continue to use rainwater and unsanitary well water every day.

bqbht_br_z6876174339243-42be73cc957e3ecc4f04d66c2f2a3135-copy.jpg — The main pipeline system after installation was dug up to carry out another project.

Mr. Nguyen Van Luan - Vice Chairman of Huong Do Commune People's Committee added: "During the process of installing the pipeline, there were many shortcomings: where the service pipeline runs through, there are no people using it, where people need water, there are no pipelines running through. We request that relevant units consider handling the issue to soon provide water to the people. For the locality, investing in the service pipeline system is very difficult because the local budget is limited."

Pipelines leading to villages and alleys are not installed synchronously. There are sections of pipelines that are suddenly cut off, not connecting to any other pipelines. Even after installation, they are dug up to carry out other projects. This further prolongs the wait for clean water for daily use.

bqbht_br_z6876171671295-0160ebe2b846d6f5c67bd81ed8a29dfe-copy.jpg — Staff of the Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation of Ha Tinh province inspect the status of water pipes.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoan - Vice Chairman of Huong Khe Commune People's Committee said: "The locality will coordinate with the Project Management Board to find solutions to complete the installation of service pipes to provide clean water to people soon, and at the same time, propagate and mobilize people to raise awareness about the necessity of using clean water sources. Accordingly, people must register and pay fees to have clean water for daily use".

The clean water plant has been completed and put into operation, but thousands of households are still waiting. The inadequacies and lack of synchronization in the investment process have made it impossible to provide clean water to the people. Relevant units and localities need to soon find solutions to remove obstacles and complete the pipeline so that the project can be effective and meet the clean water needs of the people in the area.