On October 16, reporters returned to the scene of the dam collapse of Bac Kan Nonferrous Metals Company Limited (Bac Kan Nonferrous Metals Company). More than a month has passed, lead-zinc ore sludge is still piled up in many places, forming thick patches on the ground in Ban Thi commune, Cho Don district.
Many workers and machines of Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metal Company are still collecting waste sludge, packing it into bags, and gathering it along both sides of the stream.
Meanwhile, the gray water from the processing plant still flows into Ban Thi stream - which provides water for farming and livestock production. The village is still devastated with sludge.
Many weeks have passed, but Ms. Nong Thi Bui (Ban Nhuong village, Ban Thi commune, Cho Don district) is still shocked and terrified every time she remembers the moment the dam broke.
"After the loud noise, water and mud from the dam rushed out onto the road, flooded into the house, and filled the rice field. Until now, lead and zinc waste mud is still piled up on my land, making it impossible to grow anything.
I plan to buy land from another place to put on the field to grow crops, but until now I have not received any compensation support from Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metal Company," Ms. Bui said indignantly.
Similarly, Ms. Nong Kim Huyen (name changed) in Ban Nhuong village, Ban Thi commune shared that since the incident of the sludge dam breaking, the worry about environmental pollution and water resources has always been in the minds of the people here.
"I am very worried about lead poisoning in the water and farmland. If so, farming will be impossible.
Now the company has just cleaned up the surface and both sides of the stream. It looks like they have basically cleaned it up, but the substances mixed in the soil and under the stream are very difficult to completely handle," said Ms. Huyen.
On October 16, speaking with reporters, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hoang - Director of Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metals Branch - said that the unit is still cleaning up the sludge after the dam break, currently reaching about 80%. The unit is expected to complete the treatment in October 2024.
"We are also conducting damage statistics, developing plans to assess and support affected households," Mr. Hoang informed.
Some images recorded by the Reporter:
All water samples tested failed.
As reported by Lao Dong Newspaper, on the morning of September 9, the dam burst of Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metal Company caused more than 1,000 tons of lead-zinc ore sludge and accompanying chemicals to spill into the environment, seriously affecting the ecosystem and threatening the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of households in the two provinces of Tuyen Quang and Bac Kan.
After the incident, the Ministry of Health supported testing the quality of domestic water in Binh Phu commune (Chiem Hoa, Tuyen Quang) with 8 group A parameters and 29 group B metal and microbiological parameters to assess the risk of heavy metal contamination from ore-processing water.
The results showed that 10/10 water samples did not meet the National Technical Regulation QCVN 01-1:2018/BYT on the quality of clean water used for domestic purposes in terms of physical-chemical and microbiological parameters.
