Water supply in some districts of Hanoi was disrupted on November 20 as a supply pipeline broke for the 22st time over the past six years, VnExpress reported.

Vinaconex Water Supply Joint Stock Company (Viwasupco), the owner of the Da river water pipeline, said it found “a leak” on the pipeline section of Thang Long Boulevard (Thach That district) yesterday.

Illustrative photo

Water supply was cut off soon after that, affecting daily activities of 280,000 households in the capital city.

"Households without an underground watertank or at the end of the water pipeline may be deprived from water service for one day," said Nguyen Huu Toi, general director of Viwaco - one of Viwasupco’s water distributors for Hanoi’s residents, adding that the plant is expected to resume supplying water at 3:00pm on November 21.

The US$70-million Da river pipeline system transports an average of 250,000 - 260,000 cubic meters of water per day, or nearly a quarter of the tap water supply in Hanoi city.

The pipeline has been experiencing failures repeatedly since 2012, three years after it was put into use. The last rupture occurred in June 2017.

A police investigation found Vinaconex had used substandard pipes purchased from a Chinese contractor, according to VnExpress.

Fourteen people were accused of violating construction and investment regulations. Criminal charges were later dropped against five of them who reportedly have good personal records and have cooperated with the investigation. The top prosecutor's office in August 2017 questioned this decision.

Earlier, in 2017, Vinaconex signed a contract to use pipes from another Chinese company to fix the unreliable system but backed out of the deal after the Vietnamese government raised concerns over the quality.