Ben Tre: Over 86 pct of rural households access clean water

As many as 86.5 percent of local households in rural areas in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre had access to clean water as of the end of June this year , heard a conference in the locality on August 20.

According to a report from the provincial office for t he national target programme for clean water and environmental sanitation , 100 percent of local medical stations have clean water and sanitary toilets, while 63 percent of local farmers have animal breeding facilities meeting sanitary standards, up 18 percent compared to the Programme’s set target

However, the proportion of local rural residents with access to clean water in accordance with the standard of the Ministry of public Health reached only 41 percent against the 45-percent target. The rate of those having sanitary toilets was also only 46.5 percent, 18.5 percent lower than set objectives.

The situation is attributed to limited investment in works related to clean water and environmental sanitation, and poor awareness of local people in the field.

Nguyen Huu Lap, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee asked the local Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to seek more financial sources for the locality’s water supply projects and facilitate private businesses’ investment in building clean water plants.

Lap also urged the local authorities to accelerate the construction of sanitary toilets in local households through loans from the Bank for Social Policies.-VNA