After the heavy rain from the evening of August 25 with the addition of water from West Lake, To Lich River changed color to green, completely different from the previous image of black and smelly. On the afternoon of August 26, Mr. Minh Tuyen (68 years old, Nghia Do ward, Hanoi) brought a needle to the river to fish.
"I have been passing this river every day and am used to the muddy, foul-smelling water. Today the flow has turned green, I went here to fish to relax my mind" - Mr. Tuyen said.
For more than 1 hour, Mr. Tuyen caught two fish in the famous polluted river - something that few people had expected before.
According to Mr. Tuyen, To Lich River has received domestic wastewater for many years, it is difficult to say that it is clean thanks to just a few rains. Therefore, Mr. Tuyen hopes that the city will speed up the implementation of solutions to revive To Lich River, so that people can truly live close and friendly with this river.
Mr. Tran Van Dung (residing in Yen Hoa ward) said that the green river scene only occurs for a short time after heavy rain, when there is an additional water source from West Lake. The water flows rapidly downstream of Yen Xa, sweeping away black and garbage.
"This afternoon I went to the river to see people fishing, it is true that the river looks cleaner, the fish are also swimming, but I am still worried about the quality of the water. In a few days, when the rain stops, we will not go there with the situation of direct discharge into this river" - Mr. Dung shared.
What Mr. Dung and many people hope for is for the To Lich River to truly be revived, so that this green color becomes a familiar color, not just a short moment after the rain.
Explaining the phenomenon of To Lich River water turning green, a representative of Hanoi Drainage Company said that this is a phenomenon that often occurs during the rainy season (from May to October) in the North.
Continuous heavy rain helps dilute and improve the quality of river water. Along with that, water from West Lake is also discharged into the To Lich River.
"The discharge schedule is not fixed, depending on the actual rainfall and water level of the river and lake to ensure safety, avoiding flooding in the surrounding area," said the representative.
To Lich River is currently 13.4 km long, starting at Nghia Do canal on Hoang Quoc Viet road. The end point has two departures, the first to the Nhue River through the Thanh Liet dam control gate and the second to the Red River through the downstream of the Kim Nguu River to the Yen So pumping station with a capacity of 90 m3/s, forced pumping into the Red River.
According to the February report of the Department of Construction, there are currently more than 80 sewers discharging wastewater directly into the To Lich River, of which 26 sewers are within the Yen Xa Wastewater Plant project and 55 sewers are in the S3 drainage basin.
In recent times, Hanoi has been implementing many projects to overcome pollution of To Lich River, but so far there have been no clear results. The black, foul-smelling river has been a nightmare for many years for the people of the capital.
