The Riverview Company has dug numerous wells in Arizona over the past six years. Photo: Guardian. Cynthia Beltran arrives in Sunizona, the center of Cochise County in the state of Arizona, USA in the fall of 2020. Although the area lacks potable water, Beltran can’t do anything because of financial constraints. Also due to lack of money, she accepted to manage 100 USD a week to buy water, instead of spending 15,000 USD to deepen the existing well in the new apartment. With a man with only a part-time job, Beltran soon surrendered to the $100-a-week payment and was forced to live with the help of his neighbors. “I’ve run out of options,” she said. Beltran is not the only case of the Willcox basin, which is about 5,200 square kilometers in Arizona. According to the state Department of Water Resources (ADWR), 78 wells dug between 2015 and 2019 have dried up. This number could increase to 100 in a few months. Several homes in Sunizona have been abandoned because the owners cannot afford to deepen an existing well or dig a new one. However, even with the ability to pay, there is no guarantee the drilling will be successful. Sunizona residents attribute the situation to the fact that Riverview, based in Minnesota, began digging wells with depths of 300-800 meters. They’ve been doing this since the beginning of 2015, and they’re causing the groundwater level to drop more and more. Riverview is not the first well drilling company in Sunizona, but they are the largest and deepest digging organization. Within 5 years, from January 2015 to November 2020, the number of wells in the area increased from 494 to 898. Kevin Wulf, a spokesman for Riverview, acknowledged the impact of the increase in the number of wells but believes it is not the only cause. “It is rumored that we came to dry the valley, then left. But no way, we do.” There is no question that Riverview changed the economic landscape of the Willcox Basin in just a few years. The company turned this place into an economic center thanks to the dairy farming and trading industry. They spent $38 million to buy Coronado dairy cows and bid for 2,600 hectares of land in the Kansas Settlement, north of Sunizona, on the day they started their business. To date, the company has spent about $180 million more to own more than 20,000 hectares of land, mostly agricultural land. The size of the company’s cow herd is estimated at about 150,000 cows. Sources close to Riverview say that the parent company prefers to invest in Arizona because the natural and climatic conditions are similar to the California valley where they have been successful. In addition, in this western state, there is no law regulating the amount of water pumped by each farmer household. “The Willcox Basin is the Wild West. The water there is free to use without any strings attached. As long as you have money to drill a well, you have water and no other planning or reporting,” said Kristine Uhlman, a retired hydrologist at the University of Arizona. Surrounded by five mountain ranges, the aquifer of the Willcox Basin is abundant. Before large-scale agricultural pumping started around 1940, the aquifers there had enough water to service Tucson, the nearest major city at the time, for 970 years, ADWR reports. Unlike the Southwest, the saline part of the aquifer of the Willcox Basin is only about 30 meters, and most of it is fresh water below. Uhlman says that in some areas, groundwater can be several kilometers above the surface. Because of this speculation, the Riverview Company and water-starved farmers have been descending into the valley for about a decade. However, due to lack of management, from 1940 to 2015, the groundwater level here decreased from 60 to 90 meters compared to the pre-development level. A retired ADWR official said the rate of decline increased from 0.6-1.2 meters a year before 2015 to 0.9-1.5 meters a year after 2015, when Riverview arrived. business. A water well in Arizona has risen by nearly 1 meter due to drought. Photo: AZ. According to an independent study by ADWR, Riverview drilled about 21% of the 315 new wells between January 2015 and October 2019. Specific numbers were not disclosed, but Riverview spokesman Wulf said: “Our total water usage is carefully monitored internally. We support state law that requires the measurement of all rural wells. This proposal has stalled in recent years, because of objections from other farmers.” Riverview’s claim to reduce water use causes a lot of skepticism. Two veteran local farmers, Joe Salvail and John Hart, say that while many residents have left their homes due to lack of water, Riverview has ramped up off-season planting, maintaining a two-crop-a-year rate. These factors increase the total amount of water used. In 2015, a group of farmers, ranchers, and government officials proposed the installation of meters on wells. Even so, the plan has created deep divisions within the community and the state legislature. “The leaders back then had no say. Almost no one wants to talk about it anymore,” Hart said. The prospect of Sunizona in particular and Arizona in general, in the long term, is forecasted to be bleak. According to ADWR research, if pumping levels are kept at the current level, water levels will drop by as much as 280 meters in the Kansas Settlement by 2115, compared with 1940 levels. According to the agency, most of the water remains in the strata The reservoir will be so deep that it will be almost impossible to pump up. “The reality is Riverview is drawing water from the bottom. It’s like when you suck water from a bucket, you’ll have water until it’s empty. While people with shorter straws, they get nothing.” hydrologist Uhlman commented. In addition to the state of Arizona, the US also issued an urgent notice about the risk of water shortage in the state of Nevada. The main reason, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation, is climate change causing less snow and ice to flow into lakes and rivers. In addition, hotter temperatures dry the soil, causing more river water to evaporate as it flows through the drought-stricken western United States.

People in Lao Chai, Y Ty commune clean up the stream flowing through the village. Photo: CX Environmental sanitation criteria in the construction of new rural areas in the highlands are difficult to achieve. However, Y Ty commune (Bat Xat district, Lao Cai) has its own way of doing it. Accordingly, implementing the criteria of environmental sanitation in the construction of new rural areas, people in Lao Chai village, Y Ty commune and many other villages have applied the regulation that if anyone dumps garbage indiscriminately into the stream or throws garbage around the village, will be sanctioned according to “reason 36” of the people here. Specifically, “36” stipulates that anyone who throws garbage indiscriminately will be fined 36kg of live pigs, 20kg of rice and 20 liters of alcohol. The implementation of environmental sanitation criteria in the construction of new rural areas in the highlands encountered many difficulties. However, since the application of reasonable sanctions, people have become more aware to work with local authorities to implement this criterion. In Lao Chai, Y Ty commune, people not only actively clean up the village but also pick up trash from two streams flowing through the village. Lao Chai people bring cement to build inter-village roads. Photo: CX Mr. Ha Ngoc Linh – Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Y Ty Commune said that reason is a common way of calling people, in fact this is a convention, the village convention has been approved by the commune and district after that, only to be approved. apply. The application of conventions and conventions is even more effective than the provisions of the law because the awareness of ethnic minorities is still low. Thereby, people join hands with the local government to build a new rural area Mr. Chu Xe Xa – a resident of Lao Chai village, Y Ty commune, said that in parallel with the implementation of environmental sanitation criteria in the construction of new homes, the people of Lao Chai village know well the necessity of the road. “The previous households’ houses did not have access roads, the way down was registered as the road connecting the surrounding households and also the road in the village. Households without garbage pits were registered as garbage pits. Households without pits were registered as garbage pits. If you use manure for cattle, you will register it as a manure pit. Households that do not have a toilet will register as a latrine with the village head and all households who register to do so will be provided with cement,” said Mr. Xa. Currently, Lao Chai people have been actively implementing two criteria at the same time, namely, environmental sanitation and traffic criteria, with the expectation that Lao Chai will soon complete the criteria for building a new rural area for the future. people’s lives are raised. From there, Lao Chai will become a bright spot and be more known to friends near and far and tourists in the coming years. The concrete road in Lao Chai village, Y Ty commune is about to be completed. Photo: CX In Lao Chai, people’s awareness has been raised somewhat, especially in the construction of new rural areas. Mr. Xa said that building a new village is the State and the people working together and the direct beneficiaries are the people. Therefore, in the construction of new rural areas, it is necessary to have village officials who do their best for the people and for the renewal of society so that the people will follow and follow. Currently, Y Ty is one of the attractive tourist attractions. Y Ty is about 100km from Lao Cai city. To get to Y Ty border commune, you can go from Lao Cai city to Trinh Tuong commune to go to Lung Po – where the Red river flows into Vietnam, then through A Mu Sung to arrive at Y Ty. The roads will go through old forests with old trees, and only a few roofs on the side of the mountain. Living in Lao Chai are mainly Ha Nhi people. They stayed in the log house built of earth, like in a fairy tale. Going to Y Ty is to hunt clouds and admire beautiful scenery, but experiencing the life of Ha Nhi people here is also very interesting. Y Ty is changing day by day thanks to the people and local authorities actively participating in the construction of new rural areas; At the same time, many large corporations have come here to invest in tourism with thousands of billions of dong.

Share with Zing , Quoc Dung said he took the photos at about 5 am on May 1, when he and his friends visited to hunt clouds. “Recently, tour operators guide tourists to hunt clouds and watch the sunrise, so there is often a situation of litter here. When I went up, there were 4-5 groups setting up camps, until I left. , some people even forget to clean up,” he said. Garbage includes plastic bottles, plastic bags thrown indiscriminately on the hill. Photo: Quoc Dung. Beer cans and plastic bags were thrown at the campfire, causing a loss of beauty of the hill. The unflattering image makes the online community angry, questioning the consciousness of a part of tourists who come to enjoy the holiday. Hongdiem account wrote: “In Da Lat, many people choose to camp in the forest, sleep in tents to find freedom and be comfortable with nature, but forget to bring awareness, eat and drink, don’t bother to clean up”. “Many people just want to come up here to have a good picture to bring back, then tomorrow when people ban the door, they will ask loudly why. I hope everyone has a little sense,” Nguyen Lam expressed his opinion. Many tour groups, camping to leave garbage on the hills. Photo: Quoc Dung. Some members said that during the long holiday, tourists flocked to Da Lat to enjoy the cool climate. Not only renting homestays, resort hotels, many people tend to like new experiences, rent tents to sleep in the forest, by the lake. “It is worth mentioning that some components have no intention of protecting the environment. Passing through Tuyen Lam Lake, heading to Happy Hill cafe, I observe on both sides of the road many families and groups of friends spread tarps to eat and drink. and singing. When they come back, the cans and garbage are not cleaned, they would rather put them neatly in the bag”, Huu Thien (HCMC tourist) bored. Reply Zing According to Mr. Le Anh Kiet, Head of Culture and Information Department of Da Lat city, it is estimated that on the night of April 30 and May 1, Da Lat welcomed about 126,000 visitors, of which international visitors reached 2,500.

The price is easy to access, the maintenance cost is only 1/3 of a gasoline car Launched on March 24, VinFast VF e34 has an official selling price of VND 690 million, but for customers who ordered before June 30, 2021, the Vietnamese car company offers a special preferential price of only VND 590 million. Includes one-year free battery subscription. This is considered an accessible price for first-time car buyers, young families in big cities in Vietnam. Mr. Tuan Phong (30 years old) ordered VinFast VF e34 just one day after the car was introduced. He said, with outstanding technology such as electric motors, smart features and attractive pre-set price of only 590 million VND and extremely “open” pre-order policy, VF e34 persuaded him to “down money”. without any hesitation. “The battery rental policy that makes the car price more accessible is the first reasonable one. The second is an immediate incentive of 100 million dong for early booking, and the third one is a deposit of only 10 million dong and can be freely refunded / canceled / transferred without penalty, so I have no reason. to hesitate “, Mr. Phong said. According to Mr. Phong, young people often like “delicious-nutritious-cheap” cars because their financial resources are not abundant. With the same amount of VND 590 million, in addition to the VF e34, customers cannot even buy a standard B-class SUV, only a few high-end versions of B-class sedans. Meanwhile, VF e34 Being a model in the higher-end C-segment is clearly a bargain. For young people who buy a car for the first time, owning a car is still vague when it comes to solving some concerns such as the cost of buying a car, maintenance, repair, fuel and parking. Mr. Tuan Phong admitted this, thinking that he was no exception, so he decided to buy an electric car. According to him, VinFast VF e34 not only has the most competitive price in the market, but also has a much more optimal cost-effectiveness than traditional cars. “The cost of electric fuel is cheaper than gasoline, of course. Worth mentioning here is that the maintenance cost of VinFast VF e34 is only 25% -30% of gasoline cars due to its simpler structure, ”said Phong. According to calculations, the total maintenance cost for electric cars after the first 40,000 km is only about 4.4 million VND, and only costs about 12.7 million VND for 120,000 km. Not only that, with VF e34, early customers who order early are also free 17.4 million dong of battery subscription fee in the first year. Overflowing with technology Attractive price does not mean VinFast VF e34 has reduced features, but instead, the car is fully equipped with “toys” and is connected to a smart management application. Through the application, users can update vehicle software, perform many tasks such as checking battery status, travel schedule, maintenance schedule, call for rescue, warning of theft risk, vehicle positioning, error diagnosis … Young customers will also be pleased with the cabin compartment equipped with a 10-inch touch screen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, 6 audio speakers and 2 driver-row USB ports to connect or charge electrical devices. death. The air-conditioning system integrates the air quality control function with the fine dust filter HEPA PM2.5 which is also an advantage for the current air pollution. In addition, the voice control feature to support Vietnamese for multi-regional adaptation is also expected. List of long-term safety technologies, including ABS anti-lock braking, BA emergency brake assist, EBD electronic brake force distribution, ESC electronic balance, HSA horizontal start assist, 360 surveillance camera , lane departure warning, blind spot warning, traffic flow warning until door opening, vehicle warning when reversing, front and rear sensor, tire pressure monitoring, automatic throttle, 6 airbags … Help VinFast VF e34 achieve the highest safety standards. Environmental friendliness Growing up with the Internet, Generation Y and Z (Gen Y – Gen Z) are well aware of the urgency of protecting the environment. Many young people are gradually changing to choose means of using electric energy to limit the impact on the living environment. In the opinion that electric cars are not actually too good for the environment compared to traditional cars, due to the generation of electricity and batteries emitting a lot of CO2, the leading renewable energy company in the UK EDF Energy protested. Accordingly, even with more emissions in the current production process, electric cars are still a “greener” option than traditional cars when taking into account the vehicle lifecycle. That is not to mention that it will be easier and more efficient to treat the waste from the centralized battery production / recycling process in a closed process than to worry about a series of internal combustion engine vehicles discharging every day. . Technology to produce electricity and batteries is also developing and changing day by day, so emissions from manufacturing will be improved positively in the near future. According to EDF Energy, the biggest benefit of electric cars is improved air quality in large cities. Without exhaust pipes, electric cars have absolutely no NOx, HC, CO, CO2 emissions – a combination of exhaust gases that seriously affects human health and living environment. Simply put, electric cars are the foundation for cleaner and cleaner cities and roads. Another fairly common myth is that lithium-ion batteries are as toxic as lead batteries. In fact, lithium-ion batteries are safer, causing less harm to the environment or human health. At the same time, lithium-ion batteries are also of high economic value, so they will be collected, recycled and reused instead of being disposed of as lead batteries, so the risk of environmental pollution is also minimized. In particular, the solution to renting batteries instead of “selling off” cars with batteries to customers will help manufacturers like VinFast better manage the amount of batteries circulating in the market, ensuring that they will not be disposed of indiscriminately, causing harmful to the environment.

The blooming forest flowers along the Ta Ma stream attracted many tourists to visit Recently, hundreds of ancient forest sites that naturally grow beside Ta Ma stream more than 1 km long flowing through Ha Ri village suddenly bloom with bunches of yellow, orange and red flowers covering the canopy, creating a frame. beautiful scene. Thanks to that, the peaceful village has become unusually bustling when there are thousands to tens of thousands of tourists every day flocking to see the flowers of the forest. Many groups of tourists come to Ta Ma stream to visit, organize meals and litter indiscriminately In order to ensure the environmental sanitation for this emerging tourist destination, the local government has put up many warning signs with the contents: “No littering”, “Say no to littering indiscriminately”, “Do not throw garbage public places “… along Ta Ma stream. However, after each day when tourists leave, the Ta Ma stream area is littered with domestic waste, such as plastic bags, plastic bottles, food containers, beer cans, soft drink cans … Not only organizing food, many groups of tourists also group the kitchen and grill food, making Ta Ma stream area potentially more at risk of forest fire. Not only that, many groups of tourists also group the kitchen, grill food near the trees of the forest and other ancient trees. Fire from the grill has burned many stems, flowers and leaves, seriously affecting the environmental landscape around the Ta Ma stream and potentially many forest fires. Mr. Nguyen Hong Quang, Chairman of Vinh Hiep Commune People’s Committee, said that the current number of tourists visiting Ta Ma stream is too crowded, with the peak on weekends up to tens of thousands of people. Therefore, the local government has encountered many difficulties in maintaining security and order, protecting the natural environment. The people and youth union members of Vinh Hiep commune often have to clean up garbage caused by tourists indiscriminately “In order to keep the environment and clean water sources for Ta Ma stream, we have mobilized the force of youth union officials and union members in the commune to regularly clean up the environment, and at the same time propagate to tourists to improve. awareness of keeping the general hygiene, protecting the landscape At the same time, encouraging tourists not to light fires, limiting bringing fresh food to the stream area However, due to too many tourists, many people lack Consciousness makes it difficult to completely eliminate the above problems “- Mr. Quang said. The following are pictures of youth union members and people of Vinh Hiep commune “fighting themselves” to collect rubbish at Ta Ma stream tourist site, due to many tourists visiting indiscriminately: