The efforts would be a vast improvement over the current 24%.
Saigon currently dumps 1,750,000 cubic meters of wastewater from industrial parks and homes into canals and rivers. To effectively clean it up, authorities plan to construct 24 automatic water quality monitoring systems along the Saigon–Dong Nai River. Factories and industrial parks that discharge more than 1,000 cubic meters of wastewater a day would have to set up automatic measuring stations directly linked to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
With the exception of dissolved oxygen and coliform levels, most of the city’s river and canal water meets city norms. Dumping the wastewater rather than recycling it, however, has numerous problems, including a rapidly dwindling supply of fresh water.
Saigon is looking to outside experts for guidance in managing their wastewater. Last month the Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan visited several water management facilities in St. Petersburg, Russia as part of a larger trip. He learned about new technologies that could be implemented in Vietnam.
The current goals did not specifically address household waste, 90% of which is untreated, and currently amounts for 30% of the city’s total discharge. Additional concerns regarding the enforcement of fines or legal punishments remain.
