Huge volume of untreated wastewater dumped into river Only 400,000 out of 2.5 million cubic meters of wastewater is treated before being discharged into the Dong Nai River every day, according to the Ministry of Construction. Almost all urban areas in the Dong Nai River basin do not have central wastewater treatment systems, according to a report presented at a meeting in HCMC on December 22 of the Dong Nai River Basin Environmental Protection Committee. The report showed ten out of 11 localities have failed to build central wastewater treatment facilities in 2011-2015 for their urban areas. As targeted, 60% of the urban areas in the Dong Nai River basin will complete construction of wastewater treatment facilities in 2011-2015, but the ratio is only 13.2% for HCMC, 20% for Binh Duong Province, and 6.6% for Lam Dong Province. Many urban areas in other localities are without wastewater treatment facilities. Le Thanh Cung, chairman of Binh Duong, said water pollution at the Dong Nai River has gradually fallen in the past seven years. However, environmental protection agencies are coping with funding shortages. Statistics showed the possibility of the river being seriously polluted is high as only 15% of household wastewater from the urban areas and 40% of factory wastewater is treated. The total amount of sewage and industrial wastewater is estimated to rise to 4.5 million cubic meters a day by 2020 and to 7.3 million cubic meters in 2030. “The environment and water of the Dong Nai River will be heavily polluted in 2020 if the amount of wastewater treated remains low, at the current 15%,” said Le Van Tuan, general director of the Vietnam Water and Environment Joint Stock Company under the Ministry of Construction. Water resources in the Dong Nai River play an important role in economic development of 11 localities but it is now being threatened by about 560,000 cubic meters of wastewater from 60 industrial parks and two million cubic meters of household sewage a day. The Construction Ministry calculated that it would cost VND99.1 trillion to build wastewater treatment systems at industrial zones, urban and residential areas along the river until 2020, and an extra VND69.2 trillion would be needed in 2020-2030. However, the figures could be much higher. The ministry also suggested a list of localities in need of more wastewater treatment systems, including 11 in HCMC, three in each of Bien Hoa City and Tan An cities, four in each of Nhon Trach Urban Area and Vung Tau City, and two in Long Khanh Town. SGT