The businesses investigated included Ha Noi enterprises and industrial zones southwest of the capital in Ha Dong and Tu Liem districts, said the municipal vice-chairman Vu Hong Khanh.

The city’s Natural Resources and Environment Department (NRED) conducted one investigation. All 46 of the surveyed businesses had polluted, and as many as six have received administrative punishments twice already.

A second investigation was conducted by the city’s environmental police. Out of the 44 firms surveyed, all had polluted. Only 13 were found to be equipped with waste water treatment systems, but even those did not meet stipulated standards for the most part, said the Public Security Department’s deputy director Colonel Nguyen Duc Nghi. Out of these businesses, Ha Noi Paint Joint Stock Company and Ha Dong Weaving Company were found to have discharged the highest concentration of toxic chemicals at levels four and five times higher than allowable, respectively. It is estimated that about 600 businesses, over 100 craft villages and 35 big sewers discharge waste water into the river, said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Nguyen Van Luong, Head of the NRED’s Environmental Protection Division, said that businesses in the Phu Minh industrial zones (IZ) group owned by Viet Ha Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company in Tu Liem District and Tu Liem IZ were the main culprits for the river’s pollution.

At the time of the investigation, wastewater from these IZs were discharged directly into the Nhue River without treatment, because there is no treatment system, Luong said.

Tu Liem IZ received land from the municipal People’s Committee to build a wastewater treatment station, but they refused to build it because they said the funding from the Government was too low. Next month, the environment department will announce a plan to investigate some of the other businesses in the area.

Dealing with polluters

At a conference held on May 7 to discuss the inspections, agencies were requested to determine which firms were the heaviest polluters on the river. The city will address the most serious pollution sources first, said vice-chairman Khanh. In addition, the city will give priority to pursuing violators for whom criminal evidence has been found.

"Administrative punishments alone are not strict enough to prevent enterprises from violating," said an environmental expert from the People’s Committee. Administrative punishments typically consist of a relatively small fine. Khanh also asked localities to seek out and punish polluting businesses and households.