Thua Thien-Hue (VNS/VNA) - Residents of Van Cu village inthe central province city of Hue have been making rice noodles for some400 years. But while their livelihoods fared well, their health did not.

Although when served on a plate, bun - also knownas vermicelli - usually smells delicious, the production process in Van Cusmelled bad for years, the result of wastewater being discharged untreated intoditches along the roads, ponds and fields. Water in the ditches and pondsturned black, and families had to keep their doors and windows shut to keep outthe stink.

With households investing in advanced machinery for rice noodleproduction, the amount of untreated waste kept growing, said Nguyen Van Xiem, alocal resident said.

“In the past, white foam covered the untreated wastewater surfacefrom rice noodle production, flowing out to ponds and rice fields. So the smellwas all over the village,” he said. The number of people suffering respiratoryand dermatological diseases was also increasing rapidly, he added.

But in recent years, most households have built tanks to filterwastewater during the production process before discharging it into the sewagesystem.

Nguyen Xuan No, a veteran noodle maker, said his family built twotanks to filter wastewater, substantially reducing pollution.

Nguyen Van Tich, head of the local traditional craft association,said the provincial Department of Science and Technology had allocated 2.8billion VND (123,300 USD) to support households in building wastewatertreatment systems starting in 2012.

Now, 80 percent of households use biogas to treat livestock wasteand the whole village has built filter tanks, he said. “This has become a greatboost for the development of the craft village,” Tich said.

The collection of garbage and plastic bags generated during thevermicelli production process has also been promoted.

Nearly 50 percent of village households make vermicelli. Theremaining residents participate in the supply of raw materials and marketingtens of tonnes of noodles each day.-VNA