September 28, 2011
Today we travel to a small village located in the A Luoi Valley.
The A Luoi Valley in central Vietnam is 25 miles long and 5 miles wide and borders Laos to the west. The steep mountains surrounding the valley were originally covered with triple canopy forest. During the 1960s however the valley was repeatedly sprayed with Agent Orange at concentrations up to 50 times manufacturers recommendations. A U.S. Special Forces base at A So in the south end of the valley was a local hub to store barrels of herbicides including Agent Orange for use at landing zones and military bases in the region. Today, many areas are still barren of trees, although some hillsides are covered with Acacia and Eucalyptus plantations, in part to stop further erosion and degradation of the soil, and in part to provide an income to the valley inhabitants.
The valley is mainly inhabited by ethnic minorities, namely, the Ta Oy, Katu and Pa Co, who before the war lived in the steep mountain terrain. Dong Son commune is located in the southern portion of the A Luoi Valley adjacent to the former A So base. There are currently 284 families living in the village. Half of the population living in Dong Son used to live directly on the former A So base and were relocated to the village in 2000 when it was determined that the former air base still had elevated levels of dioxin from Agent Orange on the base.
When the population was relocated off the former airbase to Dong Son, a water system was built with 14 water stations that served 100 families, mainly the families that had been relocated, leaving about half of the village without adequate access to water. In 2006 the system was upgraded and expanded to 16 water stations, with piped water going directly to 240 families. There are now 44 families without water piped to their homes. In addition the stream that has been the source of water for the system cannot provide enough water for the additional families because the dam and distribution system need maintenance.
The local authorities have identified a second stream that will be sufficient to provide water to the whole village, as well as provide water for additional families that may move into the area in future. They have determined that it is necessary to make repairs on the older system and to expand the water system by building a dam at the new water source, a new water tank, to pipe the water down to the families who do not already receive water as well as connect the new water system to the old system to increase supplies to the existing families.
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