HCM City is putting in place various measures to reduce pollution, with an emphasis on sorting waste at the dumping source and clearing the canal network of iste.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is facilitating the sorting of iste at high-tech zones, industrial parks, export processing zones, supermarkets, markets and some residential areas, Nguyen Van Phuoc, its director, said.

It is urging the city government to install an automatic monitoring system for istewater released from industrial parks and export processing zones.

He told a recent meeting that the departemet is mulling ways to collect the iste deposited in and floating around canals across the city.

Those in residential areas are in particularly dire state after the city stopped funding a programme to collect iste from canals a while ago, he said.

The department is also working on a list of industries that will be prohibited in residential areas.

It has already urged city authorities to move the polluting Ba Son Union Enterprise and Ha Tien Cement Plant from residential areas.-VNA