Lack of clean water and whose responsibility is it?

Clean water is an essential need for people's lives. However, in recent days, in Thanh Ha Urban Area in Thanh Oai District and Ha Dong District, Hanoi City, there has been a water shortage, a lack of clean water for daily life, causing disruption to people's lives and attracting special attention from public opinion.

By the morning of October 18, after 4 days of suffering due to lack of clean water, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Dinh Tien Dung requested the Party Committee of the City People's Committee to use all measures to quickly restore domestic water supply to residents in Thanh Ha urban area. He directed to have solutions to ensure long-term stability for the people here.

However, by the afternoon of October 20, two days after the directive from the Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, clean water was still only being supplied in small amounts, and people had to mobilize all the buckets and basins in their homes to store water.

Sadly, the lack of clean water is not only present in Thanh Ha urban area but also spreads to Phung Khoang street (Nam Tu Liem district) and many residential areas in Thanh Xuan, Hoang Mai and Hoai Duc districts.

The situation of not having enough clean water for daily use in the capital is not the first time. In some apartment buildings and residential areas in Hanoi, localized water shortages and “problematic” water quality have occurred occasionally and have recurred for many years. Most recently, this summer, districts such as Hai Ba Trung, Ha Dong, Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, Nam Tu Liem, Thach That, Quoc Oai, Hoai Duc, etc. also experienced serious water shortages.

The lack of clean water in Hanoi has been warned for many years, and the lack of clean water is actually even more acute when the city requested that underground wells be stopped. The city has talked a lot, held many meetings, suggested a lot... but this problem has not been completely resolved. And now, when this incident occurs, the problem is once again being "dissected".

Currently, Hanoi's clean water supply basically depends on surface water plants. Meanwhile, for many years, Hanoi has not had any new water plants put into operation. Clean water supply depends on Hanoi Clean Water One Member Co., Ltd.; Duong River Surface Water Plant; Ha Dong Clean Water One Member Co., Ltd., Song Da Clean Water Investment Joint Stock Company, etc.

It is worth mentioning that the construction of clean water plants is not on schedule. For example, the Red River Surface Water Plant Project started construction in 2015, with a plan to put into operation from the first quarter of 2021 with a designed capacity of 300,000 m3/day and night in phase one. However, the project has not yet been put into operation. Due to the slow progress, the Hanoi People's Committee had to extend the project's completion date to the fourth quarter of 2024...

In addition, the second phase of the Da River water supply project invested by the Da River Clean Water Investment Joint Stock Company (Viwasupco) to supply water to Hanoi is also behind schedule. The investment in the construction of the new Xuan Mai Water Plant using Da River surface water has not yet been scheduled for completion...

Meanwhile, as we all know, the urbanization speed of the capital is getting faster and faster, many new urban areas and residential areas on the outskirts of the city are "springing up" more and more, especially in some districts preparing to become districts. This has led to an increase in the demand for services of residents, including very essential issues such as electricity, roads, schools, clean water... And because they have not been given due attention, it has led to unnecessary frustrations that have occurred related to lack of water, lack of electricity, lack of places to study...

According to forecasts, Hanoi's lack of clean water may not be improved by 2024 if the above clean water plants are not completed. The immediate solution proposed by the Hanoi Department of Construction requires water supply units to ensure the maintenance and maximum operation of water plants and water supply stations; allocate and regulate water resources to ensure harmony between supply and demand as well as accessibility of each area. Regularly patrol, inspect, detect and be ready to promptly repair and fix leaks and broken pipes, especially the existing clean water transmission line No. 1 of the Da River.... Hanoi recommends that each citizen needs to raise awareness in using clean water, avoiding waste...

Resolution of the 17th Congress of the Hanoi Party Committee set out to strive to achieve the goal of 100% of the population having access to clean water. To achieve this goal, the city is making efforts to implement many solutions to accelerate the "coverage" of clean water sources to improve the quality of life of the people.

One of the solutions that the city and related localities are implementing is to accelerate the implementation of clean water projects. In this spirit, for localities that have assigned investors, the city directs water supply units to focus resources on accelerating the progress of assigned projects; at the same time, adjust and withdraw slow or unimplemented projects to call for other investors.

In particular, for communes without investors, the city assigns the unit currently implementing water supply services in the area to expand and develop the water supply network; at the same time, the locality implements the project using budget capital, including proposing methods of management and operation after investment...

Along with that, the City is investing in speeding up a number of projects such as: increasing the capacity of Bac Thang Long Factory, researching and constructing phase 2 of Duong River Water Plant...

According to some experts, to solve this problem at its root, in addition to the drastic participation of local authorities and functional agencies, the cooperation of the whole community is needed. To do so, Hanoi needs to have policies such as land incentives such as exemption of land use fees. In addition, water prices must be calculated correctly, taking into account all costs and ensuring the harmony of interests between investors, customers and the state...

And to quickly overcome the situation where thousands of residents are struggling with water shortages, Hanoi must clearly identify the "responsibility address" at each level, each stage, each group, each individual, avoiding the situation of "circling" responsibilities. Only then can the problem of water shortages be solved, which "keep coming back at the right time".../.

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