Tiếng Việt
普通话
The city has recorded a rapid rate of land subsidence, at an average of 40 millimeters per year, even up to 67 millimeters in some areas, in addition to flooding frequently occurring in many districts.
Scientists warned of these problems a decade ago when the volume of groundwater being exploited daily in the city rose to some one million cubic meters.
Also, the use of poor-quality groundwater taken from wells poses a great risk to human health, causing skin irritation and gastrointestinal infections.
The accumulation of toxic substances in the groundwater over a long period can lead to cancer and fatalities when that water is consumed without proper processing.
In response to the excessive groundwater exploitation, Tran Vinh Tuyen, vice chairman of the municipal government, approved a plan in late March 2018 to reduce these activities and seal groundwater wells in the city.
It was expected that the daily volume of groundwater extracted would drop to 487,000 cubic meters by the end of last year, then to 310,000 cubic meters by end-2019 and to a mere 100,000 cubic meters by 2025.
However, the plan over the last year has barely seen any positive results.
Further, Gia Dinh Water Supply JSC, a subsidiary of Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco), and local authorities in Binh Thanh District on June 15 jointly visited multiple areas in the city to encourage local residents to reduce their groundwater exploitation activities and to fill in wells.
Sawaco discovered that over 120,000 devices for water metering, out of a total of 1.46 million units in the city, were left unused. In addition, data from a source showed that local households, industrial areas and processing zones and other entities use more than 700,00 cubic meters of groundwater everyday.
The district of Binh Thanh alone recorded 33 organizations and over 270 households using the groundwater, at a total exploited volume exceeding 360 cubic meters per day.