Thousands of Hanoians Face Water Scarcity after 13th Break of Major Pipeline

A major water pipeline in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi has broken again, leaving more than 70,000 households in disturbance following water scarcity in the 13th incident since the first operation of the system in 2008. The investor, Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (Vinaconex), said that the reason has not been found yet, but media reported that main reason was attributed to low quality of the China-sourced pipeline bringing water from China-originated Da River. The incidents have caused leakage of 1.3 million cubic meters of water and the repair costs VND10 billion ($458,715), causing impacts on life of locals in the districts of Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, North Tu Liem and South Tu Liem. Regarding the repeated cases, the Ministry of Public Security has probed seven defendants from the investor of the water pipeline project, for involving in the water pipeline breach. Costing VND1.5 trillion ($69.44 million), Vinaconex-invested Song Da water project has capacity of 300,000 cubic meters (cu.m)/day was put into operation in 2008. Hanoi’s water supply is about 900,000 cu.m/day. The city will lack between 40,000 cubic meters and 60,000 cu.m/day in this summer. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon – Saigon Economic Times Aug 13)