Nghe An (VNS/VNA) - Environmentalpollution in some craft villages, especially food processing villages in thecentral province of Nghe An, has gotten worse. It not only affects the localcommunities but also raises concerns over food safety.

For many years, steam drying kilns full ofanchovies in Phu Loi craft village in Hoang Mai district have caused pollution,with untreated waste discharged directly into nearby Mai Giang River.

“Recently, there are many more steam kilns dryinganchovies, with the strong stench getting worse. Many surrounding householdshave to close their doors, while the Mai Giang River becomes dirty withdischarged water,” Phu Loi villager Tran Van Hau said.

Another resident of Quynh Di commune Tran Thi Vancomplained about the smell of fish on the side of provincial road 537B.

“There are sometimes dozens of tonnes of fishpiled here, attracting a lot of flies,” Van said.

Quynh Di commune authorities have repeatedly coordinatedto examine and prompt local businesses to solve the issue but they have notcomplied with the environmental sanitation process.

In Huynh Duong village in Dien Chau district,nearly 300 households specialise in making vermicelli noodles. They produceabout 10 tonnes of vermicelli every day, creating jobs for hundreds of localworkers. Every day thousands of litres of untreated wastewater is dischargedstraight into the fields, causing a bad smell in hot weather.

Many people in the village said although theyclosed their doors, the unbearable stench still creeps into the house. Inrecent years, the environmental pollution in Huynh Duong village has impactedagricultural production, meaning many paddy areas are unable to grow rice.

Some residents of Huynh Duong village and neighbouringvillages repeatedly petitioned local authorities but are still without asolution.

Phan Huy Ngan, Chairman of the Dien Quang CommunePeople's Committee, said it was hard to ask local people to spend tens ofmillions of dong to treat sewage.

“The local authorities can encourage people tocover drainage ditches to reduce the smell, but there is no bettersolution," he said.

According to Dinh Sy Khanh Vinh, Deputy Directorof the Nghe An Environmental Protection Sub-department, the pollution fromcraft villages is alarming, especially those producing noodles, cake andseafood.

In Nghe An province, there are 153 craft villages,of which villages processing seafood in Quynh Di, Quynh Luu and Dien Ngoc arecausing serious pollution.

“It’s very difficult to solve because there is nocapital to buy machinery and equipment. The department has set up projects, butthe capital is not available,” he said.

Thai Van Nong, Deputy Director of the provincial Departmentof Natural Resources and Environment, said that building and operatingenvironmental protection facilities requires a lot of capital, while the localbudget was limited.

“Calling for investment in the form of socialmobilisation from private sources is not effective as businesses also havedifficulties in capital,” he said.

“Departments should focus on guiding theapplication of advanced, environmentally-friendly technologies; apply cleanerproduction and technical solutions to handle the environmental issues for thecraft villages to operate sustainably,” he added.-VNS/VNA