Is the poetic canal "dead"?
On March 1st, the canal system running around the villas in Monbay urban area - a luxury urban area, located right on the shore of Ha Long Bay - belonging to Ha Long ward, Quang Ninh province, no longer had dead fish. According to people, dead white fish a few days before Tet have been cleaned up and there are no more fish to die from, because the water is heavily polluted, no fish can survive.
The entire canal system is still black, smelly, and fishy, causing adjacent villas and houses to close their doors.
Mr. Luu Manh Tuan, Chairman of Ha Long Ward People's Committee, said that he has scheduled a working session with HD Mon Ha Long Co., Ltd. - the investor of the Monbay Urban Area project to coordinate in urgently handling the pollution situation of the canal system here because it is related to the water environment of nearby Ha Long Bay.
According to Mr. Tuan, immediately after Tet, Ha Long Ward People's Committee has planned to dredge all mud under the canal, and at the same time inspect all newly appeared wastewater pipes to strictly handle violations that cause environmental pollution.
However, through document inspection, the investor of this urban area project has only handed over the electrical system and green trees; the entire wastewater collection system is not included in the official handover content. Therefore, it is not clear whether the ward has a wastewater collection system or how to collect and treat it. That is the reason why the ward does not have sufficient legal basis to dredge and treat the canal system pollution in the urban area.
The Ward People's Committee has assigned the Economic Infrastructure Department to coordinate with the Supply Center to work directly with HD Mon Ha Long Co., Ltd. to clarify the detailed contents. The key objective is to thoroughly review and inspect the origin of emissions to have accurate investment and treatment plans, avoiding wasting budget.
Finding the source of pollution
Monbay urban area is 17.89ha wide, located in a prime location in old Hong Hai ward (now Ha Long ward), in front of Ha Long Bay, with a total investment of about 5,000 billion VND, completed in 2018. This urban area includes 311 adjacent apartments, 77 commercial townhouses, 24 detached villas and 30 twin villas.
According to initial assessments by functional agencies of Ha Long ward, the source of pollution may be from some households in the discharge area, but the problem lies in the operation of the collection system. After having a definitive working record with the investor, the ward will implement dredging measures according to its responsibilities.
The canal system in this urban area was already polluted, but near the Lunar New Year 2026, the water turned black, and fish died en masse. The stench and fishy smell emanated from the canal, causing luxurious villas on both sides to close their doors.
At the scene, functional agencies discovered black wastewater from the sewer gates continuously pouring into the canal bed, then flowing into the regulating lake and discharging directly into Ha Long Bay. In particular, functional forces discovered many domestically made wastewater pipes poured directly into the canal. To cover their eyes, many locations were also tiled tightly around the pipes.
According to representatives of functional agencies of Ha Long ward, there was no such severe pollution before, maybe recently people moved here to live more and have arbitrarily built more wastewater pipes to discharge wastewater directly into the canal. However, the cause of the serious pollution situation needs further investigation.
This situation is not only confined to Monbay urban area but also leads to the serious degradation of the adjacent regulating lake (belonging to Hong Gai ward). This lake has been polluted for a long time, now it also receives wastewater from the internal canal, making the situation even more serious. What is worrying is that all wastewater from here flows directly into Ha Long Bay, causing sewers right on the bay bank to always be in a stench.
Moreover, the polluted area is located right next to Quang Ninh Museum, Dolphin Palace - iconic destinations of the province's tourism, causing negative impacts on the local tourism environment image.
