Polluted Wastewater Flows into a Tributary of the Red River

An industrial park on the outskirts of Hanoi in northern Vietnam experienced a brief but intense rainstorm the previous night. The water level in the facility’s temporary wastewater storage pond rose rapidly, overflowing the embankment, and a large volume of accumulated industrial wastewater leaked out. Some of this untreated industrial wastewater—containing various chemical residues and heavy metal pollutants—flowed through drainage channels into a tributary of the Red River. The river water turned black and murky, with fine foam floating on the surface; a pungent odor permeated the area along the riverbank, and the contaminated water mass continued to drift and spread downstream with the current.