9/21/2011

Current situation of water quality inVietnam and recent policy responses

Pham Thi Nguyet Nga
Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA)
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE)

Main content
I. Current status of water quality in Vietnam
II. Major targets for water quality
management
III. Water quality management (recentpolicy responses)
IV. Challenges and Recommendations1

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I. Current status of water quality in Vietnam
 VN has a large river and canal
network, 13 large river systems
cover > 10,000 km2. Basin ofthe 9 largest river systems,account for 90% of the total
river basins nationwide.
 Surface water resources up to2% of the world’s total flow ofrivers.
 Total reserves of surface
water: >830-840 billion m3, of
which more than 60%
generated from foreigncountries Surface water is facing
numerous challenges: water
exhaustion and pollution on an
extensive scale

I. Current status of water quality in Vietnam• Sources of surface water pollution:- Industrial zones, factories, urban areas
discharge untreated wastewater- Pressure of waste water mainly comesfrom industrial and domestic activities29/21/2011

Medical waste
Tourism
Craft village waste
Domestic waste

3,9%

Medical waste
Craft village waste

Industrial waste
1,1%

7,7%

41,1%

0,1%
10,6%

22,0%

Industrial waste
74,0%

Domestic waste
39,5%

Nhue-Day river basin

Cau river basin(Source: SOE Report 2010, MONRE)

I. Current status of water quality in Vietnam- Concentration of pollutants in major rivers
exceed the permitted levels by 1.5 – 3 times

Variation of annual average BOD5 concentration in major rivers in the2005-2009 period (Source: VEA, 2010)39/21/2011

I. Current status of water quality in Vietnam
Concentration of pollutants of surface water in urban areas
are very high, some areas 10-20 times higher than
acceptable limits

Variation of average BOD5 content in some rivers, lakes and canalinside cities (2005-2009) (Source: SOE Report 2010, MONRE)

II. Major targets for water quality
management• National Strategy for Environmental Protection until 2010and vision toward 2020 set the targets as follows: By 2020: 100% urban centers, industrial parks andexport-processing zones to be provided with centered
wastewater treatment systems that measure up toenvironmental standards
 By 2020: 100% of the urban population and 95% of therural population have access to clean drinking watersupplies49/21/2011

III. Water quality management

 Institutional arrangement for water quality management
Ministry of Natural
Resources andEnvironmentState management of water resources, water quality, meteology and hydrology,
integrated and unified management of the sea and islands
Make plans on the use, overall management and protection of water resourcesin principle river basins

Ministry ofAgriculture andRural Development

State management of agriculture, salt making, fisheries, rural development
Irrigation, flood and storm prevention, rural water supply, management ofhydraulic engineering and dykes

Ministry ofConstruction

Implementation of planning for water supply and drainage in urban areas,industrial zones and densely populated areas

Ministry of Scienceand Technology

Appraise drafts and publicize the water quality standards prepared by MONRE

Ministry ofTransportation

Manage and develop the transportation on waterwater, manage aquatic engineeringand port system

Ministry of HealthManage drinking water quality, prepare and supervising drinking water and daily
life hygiene and safety standardsMinistry of Industryand Trade

Develop hydropower, build and operate hydraulic works

Ministry of FinancePrepare guidance of water resource charges, fees and taxes

Ministry of Planningand Investment

Coordinate and submit plans for investing funds in a water management
projects

III. Water quality management
 Management of large river basins:
 National Water Resources Council: advise Gov and PM on
important decision on water resources; ensure proper coordinationof concerned ministries,ministries sectors and localities
 Minister of Natural Resources and Environment: carry out river
basin planning for large and inter-provincial river basins Chairmen of the Provincial People’s Committees are assigned tocarry out river basin planning for river basins that are located within
the administrative boundaries of the according province River basin committees: supervise and coordinate activities ofministries, branches, and local government concerning theperformance of river basin planning:+ Env. Protection Committee for Cau river basin (2006)+ Env. Protection Committee for Nhue-Day river basin (2008)+ Env. Protection Committee for Dong Nai river basin (2007)5

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III. Water quality management
Recent policy responses toward waterquality management
 Law on Environment Protection (1993, revised2005)
 Other related laws: Law on Water Resources(1998), Land Law (2003), Biodiversity Law(2008)69/21/2011

 Recent policy responses toward water quality
management (cont.) Decree 120/2008 of the Govt. on management of riverbasins Decree 88/2007 of the Govt. on urban and industrialpark water drainage
 National Strategy for Environmental
Protection until 2010 and Vision toward 2020 (issued byPM in 2003)
 National Strategy on Water Resources to 2020 (issuedby PM in 2006)
 DecreeD67/2003 ((revisedi d andd supplementedlt dbby DDecree04/2007) on env. protection fees for wastewater Decision 15/2008 of MONRE on protection ofunderground water resources Recent policy responses toward water quality
management (cont.) Decision 16/2008 of MONRE on promulgating National Technical

Specifications on Environment (including 08 national technicalg)
regulations):
Ambient standards• QCVN 08:2008/BTNMT – National technical norm on surface water quality• QCVN 09:2008/BTNMT – National technical norm on underground waterquality• QCVN 10:2008/BTNMT – National technical norm on coastal water quality
Effluent standards• QCVN 11:2008/BTNMT – National technical norm on the effluent of aquatic
products processing industry• QCVN 12:2008/BTNMT – National technical norm on the effluent of paperand pulp industry• QCVN 13:2008/BTNMT – National technical norm on the effluent of textile
industry• QCVN 14:2008/BTNMT – National technical norm on domestic wastewater• QCVN 15:2008/BTNMT – National technical norm the pesticide residues onthe land7

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IV. Challenges and Recommendations
 Challenges
 Degradation of water quality
due to economic activities: rapid
urbanization andindustrialization lead toenormous water pollution
 Poor technical infrastructure:
only 30% industrial zones has
centered wastewater treatment
systems

Challenges (cont.)
State Management remains shortcomings:
o Functions and duties of different ministries, sectors
and local authorities on water quality management
are overlapping to some extents and not clearly
distinguishedgo Legal system for water resources management isincompleteo Lack of reliable information systems for water
quality managemento Human resources for state management of water
quality are limited both in number and capacity8

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Recommendations
 Improve institutional capacity for water quality management(for monitoring, control, investigation, sanction, etc.)
 Continue to complete legal system and improve enforcement(technical guidelines
guidelines, administrative guidelines
guidelines,strategy/planning for sustainable management) Build reliable and continuous-updating information
system/database for water quality management for the wholecountry (the system should be central-managed)
 Advance technical infrastructure: learn successful watergmodel of the world; transfer, study
y and developpmanagement
wastewater treatment technology suitable with Vietnam’scondition
 Enhance capacity building for staff
 Strengthen regional and international cooperation

Water is life
Save water for next generations

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