Ha Noi water supply pipe made of unsuitable material: expert

The material used in pipes that bring water from the Da River to the capital city came under scrutiny yesterday after a rupture cut off fresh water supply to thousands of households.

Later yesterday, workers from the Viet Nam Clean Water Investment and Construction Corporation (Viwaco) fixed the broken pipe and resumed supply.


Up to 70,000 households in the districts of Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay, Tu Liem and Thanh Tri suffered a serious shortage of fresh water.

Le Quang Hung, head of a department under the Ministry of Construction that examines construction work quality, said they would send inspectors to work with the water company to review the incident, especially the quality of water pipes.

He said that they would inform the public about their findings as soon as the inspection was completed.

Nguyen Sy Trung, chief engineer of a road expansion project being carried out by the Institute of Science, Technology and Transportation, said the pipe was made of a synthetic fiber that had been used by the Da River water supply project.

The material would lose its shape or break if directly impacted by any outside force, he said.

He said that the material was not used in advanced countries for water pipelines.

Some countries such as South Korea and Japan used it for waste pipes, he added.

Earlier news reports had said that thousands of households in HaNoi would have to make do without fresh water supply for two days after the pipe broke in Thach That District on Tuesday afternoon.

This is the fifth time the pipe has ruptured since it was put into operation in 1997.

The cause of the break was yet to be ascertained.

Last year, the water pipe ruptured three times in February, November and December at different points of the Thang Long Boulevard and Thach That District.

The supply company had then said that the break had occurred because of "weak soil" around the pipe and its close proximity to the highway.