The pipeline that transmits clean water from the Da River Water Plant in the northern province of Hoa Binh to Hanoi was believed to break again on Thursday, causing approximately 70,000 households in the capital city to have no access to clean water for 12 hours. But the owner of the pipeline claimed that it was a leak, not a break, and the water supply cut was due to repair work. This was the 10th time the pipeline had either snapped or leaked for the past 35 months. The reported rupture occurred at 8:00 am, when water supply to tens of thousands of households in Thanh Xuan, Hoang Mai, Ha Dong, and Cau Giay Districts in the capital was suddenly cut. The pipeline’s owner, Vinaconex Water Supply Joint Stock Company (Viwasupco), belonging to Vietnam Construction Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (Vinaconex), admitted that a problem had occurred to a section of the pipeline in Quoc Oai District. Viwasupco then sent 150 workers and specialized machinery and equipment to the scene to repair the purported break by replacing the pipe section with a new one that is 3 meters long and 1.8 meters in diameter. Water supply resumed after 12 hours of repairs. In a notice released on the afternoon of the same day, Viwasupco said that a leak, not a break, had been found on the pipeline.  Pham Chi Son, director of the external relation and legislation office of Vinaconex, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that Viwasupco staff detected a leak on the pipeline while they were inspecting it. Therefore, the firm had to cut water supply to repair the leak, Son said. Vinacomex has sent reports about the incident to the Hanoi People’s Committee, the Ministry of Construction’s Department of State Assessment of Construction Work Quality, the Ministry of Public Security’s Investigation Police Agency, and customers, he added. “We responded to the problem quickly to cut down the time for handling such an incident to less than 10 hours,” he said.Due to pipeline quality After the pipeline broke for the ninth time on July 12, 2014, the Investigation Police Agency opened an investigation to clarify the violations of construction regulations causing serious consequences related to the design, approval, manufacture, and installation of the clean water transmission pipeline. While the probe has yet to come to a conclusion, the latest incident took place. According to the Department of State Assessment of Construction Work Quality, the pipeline’s quality is to blame for the repeated ruptures. The installation of the pipeline has not met technical standards and it has not been monitored closely either, the department added.   Hoang Hai, deputy head of the department, told Tuoi Tre that his agency is working to find out the cause of the latest snapping and will announce its conclusion in a month.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!