The recent hike in tap water prices of VND1,000-1,500 per cubic metre in the Cuu Long Delta provinces has forced many poor people in rural areas to use river water.

Tap water at more than VND4,000 per cubic metre was high compared to the income of people in rural areas.

Do Van Rua, who lives in the province’s Phuoc Long Commune, said after the price hike, most families in the area used tap water only for eating and drinking.

“For other activities in daily life, we have to use river water,” Rua said.

“When the price of tap water was at VND3,500 per cubic metre, my family could still afford to use it for other purposes (like bathing and washing utensils), but we cannot do that now,” he said.

Most of the locals are daily labourers.

In Long An Province, when the price of tap water was increased to VND4,300 a cubic metre, many residents in Dong Thap Muoi (the Plain of Reeds) bought more jars and other water containers to collect rain water for daily use.

Many residents in Loi Quan Island in Tien Giang Province’s Tan Phu Dong District have to use river water for bathing and washing clothes because they cannot afford the higher price.

The province operates a water supply station to provide clean water for nearly 10,000 families on the island.

Underused or unused

As of the end of October, the rate of households able to access tap water had reached 80-90 per cent in the delta, according to local authorities.

However, the rate of households using tap water was very low, they added.

Nguyen Kinh Chap, director of the Dong Thap Province Centre for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation, said the province had more than 300 tap water supply stations but none operates at its designed capacity.

In Vinh Long Province, only one-third of tap water supply stations run at their designed capacity, while the remaining ones produce an abundance of tap water that local residents do not use.

Tien Giang Province has 600 tap water supply stations that 92 per cent of households have access to, but only a few operate at their designed capacity.

Nguyen Thien Phap, head of the Tien Giang Province’s Sub-department of Irrigation, said tap water at more than VND4,000 per cubic metre was high compared to the income of people in rural areas.

Meanwhile, surface water of the Delta rivers has become badly polluted in recent years with suspended solids, micro-organisms and other toxic substances at more than 14 times the permitted levels, according to the provinces’ health departments.

The content of chemical and pesticide residues in the river water was also very high, reaching 0.11-0.19 mg per litre, so the surface water in rivers could not be used for eating or bathing, health officials said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News