Vietnam Water: June 18, 2008: Pollution from golf course in Hoa Binh.

http://www.intellasia.net/news/articles/health/111245263_printer.shtml

Unclean water irks villagers
Source: 17-JUN-2008 Intellasia | Thanhniennews
Jun 17, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
Nguyen Van Sen knows the water he uses contains pesticides and grass fertilisers from a nearby golf course but he does not have access to any other water.

For more than three-years, hundreds of households in the northern province of Hoa Binh have been living in a resettlement area where the only water source is contaminated by toxic chemicals from the golf course.

The families were resettled after their homes were taken to make way for the golf course in the mountainous Lam Son Commune of Luong Son District.

The plans for the golf course included a clean water supply for the resettled households but this has yet to be delivered.

Recent tests by officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment found the water used by Lam Son residents was highly poisonous.

Sen said he spent millions of dong [1 million dong = US$63] on filtering devices and a water tank but using the water still caused skin irritations.

"Clean water here is more precious than rice," the 50-year-old said.

Sen said sometimes his family traveled to the mountain two kilometres away to ask for water for drinking and cooking.

At one point, some officials from the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment gave Lam Son residents packets of water purifying powder, which costs 25,000 dong (US$1.50) apiece, but the powder didn't prove very effective, he said.

Many of the commune's families once used well-water but now the underground water is also polluted.

Rong Tam stream, which ran through the commune's previous site, once supplied clean water to four wells used by all families in the commune.

However, the stream now flows through the golf course before reaching the commune.

Chemicals and fertilisers used by the club wash into the stream every day.

Nguyen Thi Kim, 48, said the well that her family had used for more than 30 years was now unusable.

"It stinks," she said.

Dinh Thi Nhuoc, 61, said it's not simply the unpleasant smell that mattered.

"There are many harmful chemicals that endanger public health," she said.

Bui Duc Hien, chair of Lam Son People's Committee, said the commune authorities were not involved in the golf project.

He said the province had promised to build a water plant for the residents of the resettlement area.

However, the work has been postponed for two-years after a 70 metre deep hole was drilled there, Hien said.

The water that Lam Son residents are living with was planned as a temporary water supply when the golf ground project was initiated, he said.