VietNamNet Bridge - West Lake is one of Hanoi’s most scenic and symbolic places but despite its history and beauty it is being woefully mistreated and suffering from chronic pollution.

In recent times…

On a bright and sunny morning, Pham Anh Van paddles across the calm waters of West Lake. From a distance you might think she’s rowing for pleasure. Perhaps she’s a member of a West Lake rowing club? But, no, Van is not relaxing. In fact, she is an employee from the Ho Tay Environment Company and she is going about her daily routine, picking up whatever trash or dead fish that she finds floating in the water.

West Lake is, of course, one of Hanoi’s most powerfully scenic spots. Its immense waters stretch far and wide. In the morning it is covered in a thick mist. In the evening you can enjoy a wonderful sunset. Throughout the day couples smooch by the water’s edge; tourists amble across Thanh Nien road snapping pictures.

But out on the water or by the less scenic banks there is another story. West Lake is suffering from thoughtless pollution and utter neglect from the very city that prizes its reputation so dearly. Wastewater from households living around the lake floods into the water. In places the water is a disturbingly grim, black colour.

Piles of rubbish are dumped by the water’s edge. Emptied beer cans are hurled from boats sailing across. It seems people treat the lake as a giant dustbin – and in many places it looks like one too. Bui Van Duc, a retired cadre from Vong Thi village, near the lake, is dismayed by the amount of rubbish on the water. “How can people throw trash into this beautiful lake?” he asks.

A lake of many names

Covering 526 hectares with a circumference of over 12 kilometres, West Lake is the largest lake in the capital city. Commonly known as Ho Tay (West Lake), the lake has many other names, most of which stem from a legend. According to one, before there was a lake here, there was a forest-covered mountain where a nine-tailed fox lived. Long Vuong, the Dragon God, took great exception to this monstrous fox and released a body of water from the heavens that erased the mountain and killed his earthly foe.

As a result of the legend the lake is sometimes known as Ho Xac Cao (Lake of the Fox’s Body). Another legend goes that a Vietnamese monk called Minh Khong, who lived in the 11th century, was rewarded with a vast amount of bronze by a Chinese King for curing his beloved daughter. An enormous bell was then cast from this bronze.

The sound of the bell echoed so far and loud that a golden buffalo calf, believed it to be the voice of his mother. The calf rushed down from the north and trampled the ground so hard that a lake appeared under his hoofs. So some people will refer to West Lake as Ho Trau Vang (Lake of the Golden Buffalo).

Some people also refer to West Lake as Dam Dam or Mu Suong as there is a lot of fog on the water’s surface. Others might know the lake by the name Lang Bac as it has “large waves”.

Once upon a time

The lake was also the scene of a legendary crime. The culprit was Le Van Thinh, the first Trang Nguyen (doctoral candidate) in Vietnam’s feudal history and the tutor of King Ly Nhan Tong (1072-1127).

Thinh often counselled the King against the decisions of his advisors. As a result the mandarins of the Royal Court did not care for him and he was ostracised from the court. One day, he accompanied the king on a boat tour on the lake, in those days known as Dam Dam Lake. A thick mist spread across the water. Suddenly a wave rocked the boat, almost capsizing it. Then the king saw a big tiger jumping on board from another boat. Panic ensued.

The king threw a spear at the tiger while almost falling to the water himself. Luckily, a general on the king’s boat cast a net over the tiger and rescued the king. The tiger turned out to be Thinh. He was accused of trying to kill the king and take the throne for himself. He was charged with a high treason and, along with everyone in his family within nine generations, he faced the death penalty.

But the king thought of Thinh’s great contributions to the court and in the end rejected this punishment. Instead the disgraced mandarin was exiled to Phu Tho province.

Disregarded waters

The issue of how to treat waste water coming into the lake was tabled back in 1995. It was apparent that the technical infrastructure system around the lake needed improvements. But little has got underway. The west lake embankment project did get on its way, back in 1998, but remains incomplete. The lake area is also shrinking as housing projects shoot up. In the last 10 years the lake’s area has been reduced from 600ha to 526ha.

Nguyen Van Hai, the director of Ho Tay Company, points out the biggest problem is the lack of specific regulations on managing and protecting the lake’s environment. In terms of building and infrastructure there are a number of units jointly managing the lake. This results in overlapped activities while communication between agencies and authorities is poor. Hai estimates that 90 per cent of waste water and oil from the public and boats on the lake is directly discharged into the lake.

Water hyacinths extensively cover the southern shore side of the lake while the level of mud on the bottom of the lake continues to rise (the lake is on average only two metres deep, down from four metres previously). This further impinges on the lake’s aquaculture as fish have no room to breathe.

“It is terrible. On hot days you can see so many dead fish floating in the water,” says Van, who collects from 5-7 cubic metres of trash every day. According to Van’s company, West Lake is so badly polluted it will soon be a very large stagnant pond. Regardless, on a sunny day, you will see fisherman casting a line out trying to catch whatever they can. In summer young kids with no money for entry to a private swimming pool jump in and splash around.

By West Lake’s pagodas restaurants flog snails, shrimp and fish. Every day people come and go, lured by the magic, mystery and mythology that West Lake offers unaware that these are troubled times for these waters.

(Source: Time-out)