Cau River disappearing in front of northern people The Cau River, which is considered the means of support for northern people as it provides water to millions of people in the provinces of Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Hai Duong in the lower course, is getting depleted and polluted. Cau River disappears    The rivulets from the mountain chain of Tam Tao in Phuong Vien commune of Cho Don district in Bac Kan province gather in Tong Chieu hamlet, from which is considered the riverhead of the Cau River. Ha Van Ton, over 70, said 50-60 years ago, people could swim on the upper course of the river, but now they cannot, because the river section has turned exhausted and become a stream. Pointing to the rocks, Ton said in 1970s-1980s, the large rocks lied beneath the water, on stream bed. People had to swim to cross the river, or carry goods on rafts instead of wading across the stream. Just some years ago, local people could find some 20 places which provide water in Tong Chieu and Khuoi Doai hamlets. However, there are now only 11 such places now, while they can only provide little water. The natural resource is getting depleted as the result of the deforestation on the Tam Tao Mountain. The Cau river section in the Bac Kan town has got alarmingly exhausted. In winter, people can walk across the river. According to the Meteorological Hydrology Center the water of the river has been decreasing year after year. The scientists of the center said people now have to pay a heavy price for the deforestation. They fear that the Cau River section in Bac Kan town would disappear in just 10 more years with no water flow. Deputy Director of the Bac Kan provincial water supply and drainage Nguyen Thi THoa said in previous years, the company could use absorb the surface water from the Cau river to provide to local people for daily lives after the treatment. However, it now has to use the underground water, because the surface water has become depleted and polluted. The Cau River’s quality has been declining every day. The river has become the place which receives the untreated domestic waste water from hundreds of thousands of households in Bac Kan town. The waste water from the provincial hospitals which cannot be fully treated also flows there.   Since there is no waste treatment factory in the locality, the domestic waste has been thrown into the river. The pesticide residues used in agriculture production has also been flowing to the Cau River. Dang Van Oanh in Cho Moi district, a man earning his living by catching fishes, complained that he has nothing to do nowadays, because the shrimps and fishes all have “disappeared.” Who protects the Cau River? According to the committee for Cau River valley environment protection, there are four existing problems which pollutes the Cau river section in Bac Kan town. First, there is still no domestic waste water treatment work in the town. Second, there is no waste treatment factory. Third, the water sources have got polluted due to the mining activities. Fourth, enterprises and people don’t have the sense of responsibility of protecting the environment. Thien Nhien, VietNamNet Bridge