The Results-Based Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme funded by the World Bank has thus far produced encouraging outcomes in northern Ha Nam province.

Official information sources revealed Ha Nam has some of the worst contaminated groundwater among the 63 Vietnamese provinces.

According to Director Ta Duc Thang from the Centre for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation under the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 84 percent of local population, or about 639,500 people, now have access to clean drinking water thanks to the WB programme which began in 2013.

As part of the project, a water purification plant worth about 32 billion VND (1.5 million USD) brought clean water to 13,000 families living in An Lao commune thus far this year. Another plant commenced operations in Phu Ly city on April 25, improving water quality for 12,700 people.

Meanwhile, 15 hygienic sanitation initiatives at schools and medical facilities benefitted 50,000 locals in 2014, almost three times higher than the year’s provincial target. More than 2,150 households had new toilet facilities and a number of waste-treatment plants were built.-VNA