Life turned upside down after dam break
More than a month after the dam collapse of Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metal Company in Ban Nhuong village, Ban Thi commune (Cho Don), people here have not been able to return to their daily lives.
Ms. Nong Thi Bui, Ban Nhuong village, Ban Thi commune, is still shocked every time she recalls the moment the dam broke. “That morning (September 9), when I was at home, I suddenly heard a very loud noise from the mountain range. Just a few minutes later, waste poured down like a waterfall, hitting the back wall and then flooding into the house and onto the street. Ban Thi stream and a large area were buried in an instant,” Ms. Bui recounted.
According to Ms. Bui, lead-zinc waste spilled into the environment has seriously affected the ecosystem. In particular, it has left people worried about land and water pollution as well as the risk of losing their livelihoods.
Currently, Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metal Company Limited has only started to clean up and treat the sludge on the surface. Therefore, her family has not dared to resume farming for fear of poor plant growth or lead poisoning.
"The entire farmland near my house is buried in sludge. Some areas have not been completely cleared and every day there is a very unpleasant smell. My family has lived on agriculture for many years. Now that the land is like this, I don't know what I will do to make a living," the woman said.
Not far away, Ms. Nong Bich Hong (name changed), Ban Nhuong village, Ban Thi commune, has more than 5,000 square meters of rice fields damaged by sludge. Ms. Hong said that since the incident, people have been hesitant to use the stream - the main water source for farming.
To have water, people use pipes to bring water from the mountains, however this is only a temporary solution because when the dry season comes, the water on the mountains will dry up and people will again face water shortages.
"No one here dares to use the stream for daily activities or irrigation. Some households have houses on high ground and the water from the pipes cannot reach them, so they have to bring cans to get water, only getting a little at a time, which is very hard work" - Ms. Hong shared.
Hundreds of workers fix the problem
To overcome the consequences of the incident, Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metal Company mobilized from 100 to 250 workers and machines every day to collect waste sludge. After the sludge was packed into sacks, it was transported to the collection point. However, due to the spillover of waste sludge over a large area, in some places, especially the downstream area of Ban Thi stream, the amount of waste still remained, piled up and deposited on the ground.
Speaking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Khong Thanh Tiem - Chairman of Ban Thi Commune People's Committee - assessed that the incident of the broken tailings dam was a serious environmental incident. The waste cleanup work is expected to last until the end of 2024.
"Currently, because there are no water source test results, I only recommend that people do not come into contact with or use stream water to ensure safety. However, it is very difficult to completely treat the sludge mixed in the soil and under the stream bed," Mr. Tiem added.
Previously, on the morning of September 9, the dam burst of the Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metal Company, causing more than 1,000 tons of lead-zinc ore sludge to spill into the environment, affecting the ecosystem and threatening the lives 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.
