The quality of water in Vam Co Dong River and Tay Ninh Canal in the southern province of Tay Ninh has improved remarkably, following the implementation of extensive environmental management.

Nguyen Dinh Xuan, Director of Tay Ninh province’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said pollution and the reduction of water quality had been generally attributed to the activities of a large number of processing plants in the locality.

There are 74 processing plants of cassava starch and 27 manufacturing rubber latex in the province, providing a yearly output of 3 million tonnes of cassava and 175,000 tonnes of dried latex.

To solve the resultant pollution and improve compromised water quality in local rivers, Tay Ninh province made plans to thoroughly treat industrial waste water, with an official project approved by the government in 2007.

At the same time, the province has also intensified investigations into companies secretly dumping waste and is imposing heavy fines on violators.

According to the department, 81 out of the 101 processing plants have so far built waste water treatment systems meeting national standards on environment protection.-VNA