VietNamNet Bridge – An estimated 30 per cent of the rain that falls on Viet Nam is thought to be contaminated with acid. In parts of northern Viet Nam, the figure is as high as 50 per cent.

The My Phuoc 3 Industrial Zone in the southern province of Binh Duong. Research shows that the province has a pH reading of less than 4.5.

But a lack of money has limited research into how much acid rain falls or the damage it does, says Environmental Research Centre Director Duong Hong Son.

Instead, scientists have to rely on the work done in other countries for their information, he says.

The director says that with money and staff, the centre could analyse and show the harm acid rain does to people and production.

The former deputy director of the Science and Technology Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Van Hai, says that because acid rain is new to Viet Nam, effective measures to prevent it have still to be introduced.

Many governments now have laws to reduce these emissions.

But in Viet Nam, acid rain has not received much attention perhaps because policy makers think it not as important as other types of pollution.

Three research projects have been undertaken but all are very basic and limited.

One was started by the Environmental Research Centre in 1998 and is financed with VND70 million (US$4,117) from the ministry each year.

Seven of the centre’s staff who do the research have found the acid is heaviest at the beginning of each rainy season and gradually falls as the rain eases.

But it is impossible to accurately measure the amount of acid rain without the proper equipment.

Still the researchers are able to report that the high concentrations of acid rain are not confined to industrial estates, major cities and provinces where sulphur and nitrogen compounds are regularly discharged.

Chemical reactions in the atmosphere govern the acid’s spread.

The researches have also found, in common with scientists in other countries, that much of the acid rain that falls on such cities as Ha Noi, Viet Tri, Da Nang originates beyond Viet Nam.

Representatives of 14 countries were told of Viet Nam’s lack of comprehensive research to assess the rain’s impact at the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia conference in Ha Noi during October.

They were told too that the country’s system for gathering information about acid rain was not uniform.

Methodology

Viet Nam has more than 20 observation stations to gauge the deposition of the acid but they use three different methodologies.

The Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment Institute defines precipitation with pH of less than 5.6 as acid rain and most countries use the same measure.

Research shows that Bien Hoa, about 30 kilometres east of HCM City, and neighbouring Binh Duong Province, have a pH reading of less than 4.5.

The frequency of acid rain is about half as much in forest zones or places of less industrial development such as Ninh Binh, in the Song Hong (Red River) Delta, Ca Mau, Viet Nam’s southernmost province, or south-central-coastal Nha Trang Province.

Acid rain is defined as rain or other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic.

Sulphur and nitrogen compounds from industrial emissions react in the atmosphere to become its major cause. It is especially dangerous to respiratory systems.

(Source: Viet Nam News)