Investors’ wastewater monitoring stations to be shut down

An automatic wastewater monitoring station in Đồng Nai Province’s industrial zone. The operations of stations that were installed by investors in industrial zones will be halted. — Photo tinmoitruong.vn

ĐỒNG NAI — The southern Đồng Nai Province has decided to stop the operations of automatic wastewater monitoring stations that were installed by investors in provincial industrial zones.

According to Võ Niệm Tường, head of the local environment protection department, the investors had spent more than VNĐ 二 三 billion (over US$ 一 million) in installing  二 一 stations in  一 六 industrial zones in the province since  二0 一0.

However, most of the stations did not show accurate data after the wastewater was treated in industrial zones, he said.

Lack of synchronised devices, parameters and routine maintenance were blamed for the inaccurate figures, Tường said.

In many cases, wastewater in industrial areas was contaminated, but automatic monitoring stations still showed the water quality to be within permissible limits.

To deal with such situations, the province has started using  一 九 other stations funded by the government in  一 八 industrial zones to replace old ones.

After a period of operation, the test results showed more accurate data, Tường said.

The department has also proposed sanctions against some local industrial zones for environment violations.

The province now has  三0 industrial zones that discharge about  九 四, 六00cu.m of wastewater each day. — VNS