Using satellites to monitor pollution sources in Bac Hung Hai River

On the morning of May 15, Mr. Tran Tuan Ngoc, Director of the National Remote Sensing Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the department is planning to monitor high emission sources and pollution risks throughout the Bac Hung Hai system through direct data collected from the remote sensing stations Vnredsat-1, Spot 6 and other types of auxiliary data.

Data from satellite stations will have many information fields. The National Remote Sensing Department will analyze pollution sources and pollution status, along with parameters from monitoring stations to forecast, warn and handle violations.

The Bac Hung Hai irrigation system was built in 1958, including rivers, dams over 230 km long, pumping stations, and dykes serving irrigation and drainage for four provinces and cities: Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, and Hai Duong.

In recent years, this irrigation system has been polluted, and at many times the water quality does not meet the minimum requirements for agricultural irrigation. According to the February 2024 monitoring results of the Institute of Water, Irrigation and Environment, 9-12 monitoring locations have very poor quality.

The issue of pollution in Bac Hung Hai has been raised for many years, but has not been effective. The main reason is that domestic wastewater, wastewater from craft villages and industrial clusters is not collected and treated but is still discharged directly into the river.

Along with that, the responsibilities of provinces and cities in the basin have not been clearly defined. Provinces in the basin such as Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Bac Ninh believe that Hanoi is the source of the system, discharging waste directly into the river, and need to be really determined to handle these sources.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh, at the conference on solving the problem of pollution in the Bac Hung Hai irrigation system on May 14, requested to consider establishing a river basin management board and assigning clear authority and responsibility to provincial and municipal leaders, thereby ensuring strong participation and good coordination among localities. A representative of the Ministry of Public Security said that they will consider criminally handling establishments that repeatedly discharge pollution into the environment.