More than 80 percent of households in rural areas in the northern province of Thai Nguyen have access to clean water, according to the provincial Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Centre.

The proportion of rural people using water that meets national safety standards is 58 percent while 98 percent of local schools have sanitary water and toilet facilities, reported the centre.

According to Director of the centre La Hong Chung, the province has set targets of 85 percent of rural people using sanitary water, 65 percent of households maintaining clean animal cages and 100 percent schools having adequate water supply systems by the end of this year.

To reach the targets, the province is focusing on completing five water supply projects and expanding large-scale others in different localities with a combined investment of 14 billion VND (641,000 USD) from the national target programme for clean water and environmental sanitation, he said.

At the same time, the centre is mobilising investments from foreign organisations for a project to build a solid waste treatment system and school toilets in Van Tho commune of Dai Tu district as well as sanitary toilets in Ky Phu and Van Tho communes in Dai Tu district and a water supply system in Cao Ngan and Thinh Duc communes in Thai Nguyen city, he noted.

Chung said in the near future, the province will focus on large-scale water supply facilities and expanding existing ones for increased efficiency and sustainability.

However, he also pointed to a number of shortcomings in the implementation of the national target programme for clean water and environmental sanitation in the province, including the insufficient management and operation of water supply projects.

As many as 10 percent of more than 200 rural water supply projects in the locality are ineffective and 18 percent are broken while the ratio of water loss is over 30 percent, the official noted.-VNA