Da Nang warns hotels, restaurants against letting wastewater into sea

Da Nang City chairman Le Trung Chinh has warned that restaurants and hotels that lack treatment systems and dump wastewater into the sea will be shut down.

He was speaking Thursday at a conference held to discuss the state of tourism so far this year.

Truong Thi Hong Hanh, director of the city Department of Tourism, said wastewater is being dumped into the environment, especially during rains.

This also diminishes the image of Da Nang, he said, adding the city should quickly build drains to separately collect wastewater and rainwater.

Vo Nguyen Chuong, deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, said the city is currently renovating some sewers that drain water into the sea and has yet to work on old systems to ensure that both old and new systems are connected.

"This responsibility lies with certain institutions, including the drainage and wastewater treatment company."

Some restaurants and hotels have not linked their wastewater system with the city's since they do not want to pay the fees.

This puts establishments that deal properly with wastewater at a cost disadvantage, he pointed out.

Authorities have fined some hotels that dumped wastewater into the sea in the past, and will require businesses to integrate their wastewater collection systems with the city's in the future, he said.

Da Nang has been collecting both wastewater and storm water runoff in the same drainage system for a long time.

Since 2019 projects to upgrade the wastewater collection system have been carried out on the western coast, and wastewater and rainwater are separated in several places now.