Da Nang (VNA) - A section of My Khe beach in the central city of DaNang, considered one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in Vietnam,has been heavily polluted by untreated waste water illegally discharged from aconstruction project.

Deputy Director of Da Nang’sDepartment of Construction Le Tung Lam said the 27-storey Royal Era 1 buildinghad pumped waste water from its on-going excavation of basement floors into thecity’s household waste water treatment system. However, the treatment systemwas overloaded with waste water discharged from the project, and could nottreat the overflow.

The project investors, the TMSHotel Da Nang Joint Stock Company, and the building contractor Hong Tri VietCompany connected the site with the city’s waste water discharge system withoutpermission from the administration. “We stopped the project on August 4. Wastewaterfrom the project had spoiled the beach of My Khe through the My An dischargeoutlet,” Lam said.

“The department, in co-operationwith relevant agencies and the district of Ngu Hanh Son, will strictlysupervise the project and the investors will only be allowed to discharge wastewater from the construction site when they get approval from the city,” Lamadded.

He said the department asked thecity’s natural resources and environment officials to inspect the illegaldischarge of untreated wastewater onto Da Nang beaches.

The central city has beenstruggling against waste water discharge from industrial zones (IZs) and urbansites. According to the city’s Institute for Economic and Social Development,only 70 percent of waste water from IZs is treated before being discharged intothe environment, and even that is at level 1 (liquidation of organic matter).

Meanwhile, urban untreated sewageis still discharged directly into 28 lakes out of 30 in the city daily, whilerain and untreated household waste water is collected in the same pipe andsewage system before flowing into the sea. Untreated sewage has also spoiledother beaches with waste water from households and seafood restaurants.

Da Nang presented a 115 millionUSD budget proposal, of which 100 million USD is to be funded by the WorldBank, for upgrading waste water treatment stations, waste water drainage systemsand drainage channels in the city.

The city’s 90km coastline has 11public beaches.-VNA