Around 358,350 households in HCM City, or nearly one million people, are still using unsafe water, said a local official.

One million residents in HCM City use unsafe water

At a recent meeting of the municipal party committee, Secretary Le Thanh Hai said that to date only 81% of city households had access to clean water.

"It has been 40 years since the country was reunified, but nearly 1 million residents in HCM City still lack safe water", Hai said.

For many years, households in Binh Chanh District have complained about water quality. Local Hoang Thi Mai said that over the past 10 years, her family has had to buy clean water at quite high prices.

“We have to pay VND1,500 (USD0.07) for a 30-litre bottle of water.  Every month, my family spends around VND1 million for buying water," Mai claimed.

Many poorer households have dug wells, but this water is obviously unsafe.

Tens of thousands of households in District 12 and the others districts of Binh Tan, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi and Thu Duc also face the same situation, and use rain and well water.

Rain and well water used by hundreds of thousands of households in HCM City has been tested as unsafe based on Ministry of Health standards, according to the HCM City Department of Preventive Health.

A recent test conducted by the centre on 1,400 spots in seven districts showed that just 3.21% of the water samples are safe for daily use.

Secretary Hai urged local agencies to ensure clean water for residents.