Despite the difficulty Hoeryong area residents are facing in securing safe drinking water due to chemical contamination in a stream from gold mining, state officials have taken no concrete steps to resolve the situation, Daily NK has learned.
The contaminated water produced from the mine is flowing into the stream without going through any purification process. After making no effort to install a filtering system for the chemicals at the mine, the state is now belatedly trying to force people into paying money for the construction of a water purification system. However, with no payments coming in the issue seems to have been abandoned.
Some residents have been suffering from stomach pains or diarrhea, while others are rendered unable to work at the markets because of severe upper respiratory complications, according to the source. He said that such dire circumstances normally warrant a visit from the central authorities, which is why this overt lack of action is so perplexing to the population.
“It has been over a month since people have been experiencing symptoms, but no one has even been investigating the cause. Now, some are trying to find their own solutions,” the source reported. “A number of residents are looking into construction costs, pointing out that they might just build a little dam themselves.”
[Source: Daily NK]
