In Go Vap and other districts, for instance, the excess of nitrate menaces the health of people and livestock and can lead to cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

The critically contaminated surface water is to blame, says the department, which points out that the situation is made even worse by residents digging wells for drinking water close to toilets or polluted canals.

Although the third and fourth groundwater levels lower down are yet to be breached, they too are very much at risk, mainly from all the abandoned wells that are used to dump household and industrial waste.

It is estimated that the city exploits nearly 525,000 cubic meters of groundwater per day, of which industry takes 300,000 cubic meters.

Source: SGGP