WATER ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT POLICYIN VIETNAM(The role of Experts/Researchers)

Dr. Nguyen The Dong
Deputy Director General
Vietnam Environment Administration

OUTLINE
State of water environment in Vietnam
 Legal system of Water Environment Management Current role of experts and researchers in policy making
process
 Example of policy oriented research Expected role of experts and researchers in policy making
State of water environment
in Vietnam

Geography• Vietnam is a country bordered by thePacific Ocean on the Eastern side
• Area: 331,114 sq. km. (127,243 sq. mi.)• Population: 90 millions (1/11/2013))• Terrain: Varies from mountainous tocoastal delta• Climate: Tropical monsoon.

• Ethnic groups: 54 groups including
VietnameseState of water environmentVietnam has a large river and canal networkMore than 2,360 rivers with the length of more than 10km, including 10 mainrivers

16 river basins with basin area of more than 2,500km2.
Wastewater generated has been discharged untreated to nearby rivers, lakes,
canals and ponds, causing severe water degradation and pollution
nationwide, especially in urban areas.

Domestic wastewater accounts for about 30% of direct discharged wastewater
into rivers, lakes, canals and ponds in Vietnam, especially in the South-Eastregion and Red river delta with high population density (MONRE, 2012).

Industrial wastewater discharges place the greatest burden on water bodies
across the country, especially in 3 most polluted river basins, including Cau,
Nhue-Day and Dong Nai river basinMany of the major rivers have pollution levels (BOD)
exceed the allowed level by 1.5 to 3 times, especially in theriver sections which run through the urban centers,industrial zones

Annual average BOD5 in major rivers in Vietnam in the 2005-2009 period(Source: National State of Environment 2010 (MONRE, 2010))

Many of lakes, ponds, canals and rivers in many cities
and provinces are seriously polluted

Annual average BOD5 in major rivers, lakes and canal inside cities
in the 2005-2009 period(Source: National State of Environment 2010 (MONRE, 2010))

Current situation of domestic
wastewater treatment


Most drainage and sewerage systems in large cities were constructed overthree decades ago. More than 90% of wastewater is conveyed by using of
combined sewer systems, primarily serving as storm-water drainage,

Most urban domestic wastewater is only primarily treated by septic tanks, thus
both storm-water and domestic wastewater are finally discharged together into
nearby water environments such as rivers, lakes and canals.

The total design capacity of 17 in-operation centralised wastewater treatment
plants is about 580,000 m3/day, accounting for only about 10 percent of total
generated urban wastewater in Vietnam (World Bank, 2013).

Current situation of domestic
wastewater treatment

Wastewater treatment technologies at centralised treatment plants: the mostcommon technologies are based on “conventional” activated sludge (AS)process, such as aeration tanks or sequencing batch reactors (SBR)Nearly 90% centralised wastewater treatment plants for the near future will
use this “conventional” activated sludge-based treatment technologies(World Bank, 2013), which may negatively impact on sustainability andviability of the sanitation projects over the long term.

Current situation of industrial wastewater(country, hot spot area)•More than 1 million cubic meters of untreated wastewater per day directly
to receiving water bodies i.e., about 70% of the total industrial effluent
discharge (World Bank, 2012).

•The Cau and Nhue-Day River in the North and Dong Nai River in theSouth that pass through the country’s most industrialized provinces arerecognized as the three most polluted rivers.

Center for Environmental Monitoring

4 Water and Environmental
Quality Monitoring (EQM)
Programs in key economiczones:

Special economic zone in theNorth, Central, South andMekong Delta Program

7 Water Quality Monitoring
Programs in the following
river basins:

Nhue-Day, Cau, Dong Nai, MaChu, Vu Gia - Thu Bon riverbasin andSouth West region
Red –Thai Binh river basin(2012)

2 Environmental Impact
Monitoring Programs: Impact
Monitoring (initiated in 2013):

Supervision of bauxite projectin the Central Highlands
Monitoring hydropower damsin the Central

Type of monitoring data and reporting system
Type of monitoring Data sources

Reporting and Evaluation System‐ Regular monitoring‐ Automatic & Continuous
monitoring

Monitoring programs led
by VEA‐MONRE

Updated regularly and in real time to a databaseat the CEM, VEA‐ Regular monitoring‐ Automatic monitoringNetwork of national
environmental
monitoring stations;‐ Sent to VEA to update into the database at the
CEM ‐VEA by email or postal mail.
‐ Frequency: 1 time/year‐ Both Regular and Non‐
regular monitoring(Project‐basedmonitoring)

Information, monitoringdata recorded andanalyzed by the other
Departments/Divisions
or agencies under theMONRE;‐ Sent to VEA to update into the database at the
CEM‐ VEA by email.
‐ Frequency:
1 time/month (only applied to air monitoringdata from the National Hydro‐
Meteorological Service))‐ Non‐regular monitoring(Project‐basedmonitoring)‐ Automatic monitoring

Local monitoring programs; ‐ Except monitoring data from automatic
monitoring stations in An Giang, Lao Cai, Ha
Nam, information and database has notbeen shared regularly with VEA.

‐ Both Regular and Non‐
regular monitoring(Project‐basedmonitoring)

Information, monitoringdata from the otherMinistries.

‐ Sent to VEA to update into the database at the
CEM‐ VEA by postal mail (non‐regular)

Legal systemof Water Environment Management

Legal system of Water Environment ManagementGeneral law
Law on Environmental Protection 2014
Law on Water Resource 2012++Regulation
National Strategy on environmental protection by 2020
National Strategy on water resources by 2020
River basin management
Fee on environment protection of the waste water++National Technical Regulation on Environment• National Technical Regulation on Surface Water Quality;• National Technical Regulation on Ground Water Quality;• National Technical Regulation on Coastal Water Quality;• National Technical Regulation on Surface Water Quality for Protection ofAquatic Life
• National Technical Regulation on Water Quality for Irrigated Agriculture• National technical Regulation on Off-Shore Water Quality•++Pollution source inventory

No unified pollution source inventory (PSI) system in Vietnam,
especially for industrial wastewater.

Data is mostly available on project basis.

No responsible department, shortage of budget and few humanresources in the environmental field for PSI development.

Very few experiences on the available and existing methodologies
to develop a PSI, and no experience on how to input collected data
to PSI and usage of PSI including estimation of pollution load for
decision making and for systematic planning of water pollution
control measures.

Little understanding among DONREs on why it is important toshare necessary data or information among relevant governmentalagencies.

Current role of experts and researchersin policy making process

Current role of experts and researchers inpolicy making process- Resolution 24 of central committee of Com.
Party 2013 on “proactively responding toclimate change, boosting resourcesmanagement and environment protection”-Resolution 41 of Political bureau of Com.
Party 2004 on “Environmental protection in
the period of accelerated nationalindustrialization and modernization”-Resolutions of the Government to implement
Res. 24, 41-Resolution 35 of the Government on “somepressing matters for environmentprotection”2013

Science and technology
research(experts andResearchers)-National strategy of environment protection
by 2020-National strategy of water resource by 2020

-Environment protection law 2014
-Water resource law 2012
-Biodiversity law 2008
-Science and technology law 2013

Example of policy orientedresearch• State reseaarch program 08 on nature andenvironment protection• MONRE research program on env.
science• State research program on ClimatechangeExpected role of experts andresearchers in policy making
Policy need to have experts and researchers contribution:• Policy and organizations responsibility of water
environment management• Community based river management• Economic tools; payment for environmental service• Water Environmental conflict/dispute• Env. monitoring and pollution inventory• Water Environment poll. Treatment technology• Cleaner technology/ ecofriendly technology• Green economy

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!