Residents of a village in northern Xayaburi province have complained that a Chinese-owned cassava processing plant is dumping polluted water into the Mekong River, turning it black and smelly.
Residents of Nam Xong village in Pak Lay district told Radio Free Asia that they haven’t been able to fish in the river and the village sometimes has a foul odor.
The processing plant run by Laos-Jinsui Ecological Technology Co., Ltd., releases wastewater into the river during a two-hour period on most days, residents said.
“The factory is located a little bit far from the Mekong but they have set up a direct pipeline for the wastewater,” one resident told RFA. “It has been years that I have seen this problem, but no relevant authorities have come to solve it.”
The factory has recently built some ponds to clean wastewater before it is released into the Mekong, which has reduced some of the bad odor, another village resident said.
Acting district Gov. Bounlhaiy Vongdala told state-owned Lao National Radio on Friday that he has appointed a committee to follow up on the complaints.
An initial inspection found no pipeline from the factory to the river and determined that the dark-colored water in the river was likely due to a leakage from the factory’s ponds, he said.
A factory employee said plant officials are working to prevent wastewater from leaking into the river in the future.
“It is just a small problem,” he said. “The relevant offices in the district understand the factory’s situation and everything is good now.”
RFA contacted the Pak Lay district office for comment on the complaints but a relevant official refused to answer any questions on Monday.
Villagers who live near other cassava processing factories elsewhere in Laos have also reported issues with odor and wastewater.
Cassava is used in a number of food products, including sweeteners, flour and animal feed. The edible, starchy, tuberous cassava root is also sometimes turned into biofuel for power generation.
Translated by Phouvong. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.