Ha Noi faces worsening pollution problems due to solid and water waste and exhaust fumes, according to official reports by environmentalists. Because of this, the health and daily lives of the local residents are greatly affected. Fourteen hospitals in the western part of the city had their waste treatment system downgraded, and eight central hospitals temporarily treated waste with Cloramin B when their system failed.

Unfortunately, less than 200 of the city’s 3,000 business establishments discharging industrial waste have proper treatment systems. Worse, they only use them when the police or inspectors are around to check their facilities. According to official statistics, the city discharges an estimated 1,250 tonnes of rubbish everyday. 100 tonnes of these come from industrial zones and hospitals.

Starting two years ago, the city government made a concerted effort in treating the solid waste problem by burying about 70% of daily waste and treating water in local lakes. Sadly, this didn’t do much to alleviate problem. Moreover, the local residents themselves lack self awareness on the problem, sometimes aggravating instead of lessening the crucial issue of pollution in their area. Over the past two years, establishments causing pollution have developed more rapidly than the strategies on solving them, making the problem even more difficult to solve.

According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and what should be public knowledge, solving environmental pollution, or any pollution or problem for that matter, is not only government work but a hand-in-hand effort between the government and the people. According to the agency’s municipal deputy director Pham Van Khanh, the light punishment given to sectors resisting
environmental reform is also another hindrance to solving the serious matter. Big businesses can just pay the fine no matter how big it is instead of building or setting up waste treatment facilities which always cost more, negating the purpose of solving pollution down to its core.

In a continued effort to solve the pollution problem, the government has called for investment from enterprises to carry out the project of collecting and treating daily waste. In fact, the city is proposing building a waste treatment factory in Son Son District in partnership with Advanced International Joint-Stock Company. ${bigcity_Hanoi:"Hanoi"} in particular has already started a pilot project to burn solid waste in My Duc District. Two environmental officials are assigned per district to make sure the project is properly implemented and monitored.