(VOVworld) - Tap water is taken for granted by city dwellers, but in rural areas most people still use either well or rain water. People in Song Phuong commune, a farming village on the outskirts of Hanoi, are typical. The big question is whether their water is plentiful enough to meet local daily needs and hygienic enough not to pose a health risk? VOV5 reports.

We visited Song Phuong, about 20 km from Hanoi’s center, on a day in early summer. The blazing heat and hot steam that rose from the paved road made the atmosphere stifling. The heat was relieved when we reached a village pond, perhaps intended to make the village’s climate more tolerable. The pond was no longer a water supply for the villagers.

Bui Anh Tuan of  Thap Phuong commune is washing vegetables for lunch. Tuan says the clear water he is using is drawn from a deep well drilled a decade ago. The well water is filtered through a filter-bed, then pumped up to a tank on the terrace. The well provides enough water for daily use but Tuan still has built a big tank to contain rain water. He says ‘Tap water supplied by the state hasn’t been available there. We mainly use well and rain water. Rain water is used for drinking and cooking as it’s safer. When it’s drought, we use the well water. Currently, rain water is abundant’.

It costs about 3 million VND or 144 USD to drill a well. The price is not too high for the local’s income. Therefore, it’s easy to see a well in any household in Song Phuong commune. The availability of the source of water has never made villagers think of using it economically. Recently, they have recognized that the natural source of water is not infinite. The well water level has become less in the following year. Bui Thu Huong, a young villager, says ‘Water is a precious natural resource. We should use it economically otherwise it will run off. Our parents have started to realize this fact and remind us’.

What makes Song Phuong people worried is their source of water is safe and hygienic enough? Sanitation is significant for not only their living quality, but as the commune is one of the 3 selected agricultural villages of Hanoi to pilot the model to develop new rural areas. Nguyen Minh Chau, an officer in charge of the village’s culture, said hygienic water supply for daily activities is a key criterion for villages to be recognized as a village of new styles. He says ‘We have invested in improving infrastructure including water treatment systems and water containers. During the process of use, we have cooperated with the local medical sector to check the quality of the source of water, and support the sterilization to ensure the safest water supply for villagers’.

Both villagers and local authorities still hope that a system of safe water provided by the Government will soon be built there, according to Van Minh, the commune’s Party’s Committee’s Secretary. He stresses ‘A safe water program is a dream of both Song Phuong people and the Party Committee. I hope it will come true soon’.

Minh’s dream is likely to come true in a near future, as Song Phuong commune is located in the route of the water pipes of Da River which is supplying water for the entire Dan Phuong District and Hanoi.