Living in ... cement dust

Dust closed on the roof into thick layers, flying dust at meals, drinking water. In particular, from October (lunar calendar) on both Kien Luong town, Kien Luong district (Kien Giang) submerged in dust and dust.

Chimney Ha Tien II Cement Factory (Photo: TTO) There are dusty days that make foresight only a few meters away. The whole town has lived with cement dust for decades. The risk of 'lung disease villages' is threatening if .

Kien Luong town is in dry season, hot sunshine. Hot sea breeze mixed with cement dust of active factories makes the air suffocating to breathless. In the afternoon, the entire front row of houses in Lo Bom Hamlet, Tam Thuoc Hamlet and the neighboring hamlets of Ha Tien II Cement Factory had shielding canvas. Many households are using water spraying on the yard, washing the house and cleaning the floor, and there are households who have closed doors to eat rice.

Rice . chan dust

Dao Kien and his wife have just cleaned the house and said they have to clean at least five times a day or dust will build up on the floor.'This season is better than the wick and windy season (the time of three months approaching Tet), the dust is all over the area. The two lunches and the afternoon, although the front door is closed, the back door is still boiled with dust because of the ventilation holes. The dust is so terrible, the road is about 5 meters in the street, it is blurry eyes, ' said Mr. Kien, who pointedly pointed at the chimney that is 'horizontal sky of the wind' of Ha Tien Cement Factory II.

He said: 'The reason is that it is night and the day it discharges dust and smoke. We were too miserable because we were close to the factory, directly inhaling the dust all year round, and the sound of landmines exploded day and night . ' Mrs. Pham Thi Thanh's house on the opposite side is equipped with two layers of door to prevent dust. Dozens of surrounding households stretched, spreading mosquito nets.

Loading workers are susceptible parts - as recommended by doctors (Photo: TTO)

Particularly for cafes and cafes, it is difficult to fight with . dust. Ms. H. - the owner of Pho restaurant, Tam Thuoc hamlet - laments: 'Selling a shop cannot cover the canvas, open a mosquito net or close the door because of anyone who comes in. Opening the door to sell it, such as picking up dust into the shop, the big wind days to protect the guests from drinking must be sprayed continuously, the indoor fan opens at full capacity.

Yet, it did not prevent dust, there was a day of dust and no one dared to eat . ' The cafes in the 'coverage' area of cement dust also share the same fate. Many young people said: drinking coffee here can not be sip like other places, must 'beat quickly' if you do not want to drink coffee dust.

Located in the area . cement dust also has students of Kien Luong Primary and Secondary School. These two schools are only 100 meters from Ha Tien II Cement Factory. Mr. T. - Kien Luong Primary School teacher - said: 'The first grade student here when entering school, the first lesson we convey to them is to learn how to fight dust and live with dust' .

What is miserable people, and what about workers who work directly in cement factories? Mr. Nguyen Minh T. - worker working in the loading and unloading stage of a cement factory for more than 20 years - said rhinitis, sore throat and many other diseases of workers is . normal.

'Directly with toxic cement dust without disease is strange. Last month, I had a sore throat for a whole month, saying that I did not speak, and went to a doctor to treat all the money but could not help it. My doctor told me that rhinitis and pharyngitis had become chronic, there was only a way to live with it and not cure it . '

And Mr. Nguyen Van H. - worker of Ha Tien II Cement Factory - added that the workers who work in loading and unpacking are the most miserable, many when finished, the whole body is covered with dust. flour!

The canals and coastal areas near the town are also seriously polluted because of dust and waste of cement factory clusters, as reported by Kien Giang Provincial People's Committee: '. Increasing the concentration of suspended solids in surface water in the surrounding area, acidification of soil and water in the area if rainfall rains. Loss of vegetation in the mining areas leads to loss of water retention capacity for groundwater.

Causing erosion, creating ponds and lakes, causing loss of aesthetic inherent in the area ' . Households said the rain here could not be used. Every heavy rain is the whole town full of black water flows over the channels and lakes, so that no one dares to bathe under the canal. Farming is near the factory area as 'handshakes.com'.

There will be villages of lung disease .

Chimney Ha Tien II cement plant day and night exhausting smoke (Photo: TTO)

There are five cement factories in Kien Giang province, all located in Kien Luong district. Besides, there are dozens of manual lime kilns. The space covered with cement dust of the cement production industry directly affects four communes and one town in Kien Luong district.

According to the 2005 environmental report of Kien Giang Provincial People's Committee, in the year the cement plant is in operation, only Holcim Cement Plant has a relatively standard waste treatment system. In other factories, the waste treatment system is not yet achieved.

Some old factories, lime kiln systems, stone crushing stations, and small factories that have not invested in the construction of waste treatment systems have contributed to polluting the surrounding residential areas. The two most serious polluting factories are cement factory of 82 thousand tons Cement Joint Stock Company and Ha Tien II Cement Factory. In which, Ha Tien II Cement Plant has been 'granted' by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to the 'black list' of polluting factories.

Talking to us, Mr. Ly Thanh Hue - Director of Ha Tien II Cement Factory - said: 'Our factory is operating with two production lines from 1964 and 1971. These two lines are too old. so the waste and gas treatment system is not working effectively. Therefore, the exhaust environment emitted by the factory is not achieved as expected ' . The situation of many other factories in the region is not better than that of Ha Tien II Cement Plant.

Talking to reporters around the environmental pollution in Kien Luong Industrial Zone, Mr. Le Huu Hung - Vice Chairman of Kien Giang Provincial People's Committee - said: 'It is true that the level of pollution is becoming more serious, affecting to the activities of thousands of households in Kien Luong town area.

People called and many times the provincial People's Council also raised questions, provincial leaders and provincial People's Committees were also very urgent and required cement factories to take measures to minimize pollution levels (cement dust).However, the problem is not simple, enterprises in the industrial park use old and outdated technology, so they have to change technology to reduce pollution level, while changing technology need a big capital.

To ensure the health of workers and people, the province has asked businesses to organize periodic medical examinations for workers.As for the people, in the immediate future, the province will direct the local to create conditions for people to seek medical treatment and timely treatment.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - deputy head of Kien Luong district health department, nearly 60,000 people are directly inhaling cement dust, one third of the population suffers from the noise of rock-breaking mines and stone trucks. According to the irregular assessment of Kien Luong District Health Department, up to 30% of children under 5 years old in the district are infected with pneumonia and mild acute respiratory inflammation. This ratio tends to increase.

Statistics in 2005 of the Center for Occupational Health and Environment in Kien Giang province show that almost all workers are infected with diseases such as pneumonia, vision loss, hearing, ENT, facial and dental, skin diseases . with a high rate. In particular, there are dozens of poorly classified workers who carry serious diseases: tuberculosis, chronic pharyngitis and occupational deafness.

'If factories do not have measures to limit pollution levels, Kien Luong district will form' lung disease villages ' in the future. Worried about this situation many times we recommend to the higher level, recommending to factories but things still do not have a reasonable solution "- Mr. Thanh said.

Over the years, the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment has yet to report any environmental monitoring on the industrial cluster of Kien Luong cement production. There are only annual reports of the PPC and an environmental monitoring report by the Ha Tien II Cement Plant itself. This floating situation is at risk of forming 'lung disease villages' in Kien Luong district.