Updates of Water Environment
Governance in Viet Nam
Dr. Nguyen Thi Phuong Mai
Deputy Director, Environmental Science Institute,Vietnam Environment Administration
The 16th WEPA Annual Meeting (online)
2 March 2021

Facts and statistics of water quality
Table No 1: Water quality to be calculated using WQI according to Decision 879/QĐ-TCMT,2011 by Viet Nam Environment Administration are shown in values from 0-100
WQI valueExplanation

Color code

91 - 100

Good for drinking water supply

Blue76 - 90

Good for drinking water supply with special treatment options

Green51 - 75Good for agricultural activities

Yellow

26 - 50

Good for waterway transportation

Orange0 - 25

Heavily polluted water needs treatment before usage

RedFacts and statistics of water quality
Very goodGoodAverage

Poor

Very poor

Mekong River (Vietnam)

Dong Nai river basin

Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin

Ma river basin

Red River-Thai Binh river basin

Nhue-Day river basin

Cau river basin

Nationwide

Chart No 1: WQI values for 7 main river basins in Viet Nam from 2014-2018

Facts and statistics of domestic wastewater
management

Chart No 2: Generation of domestic waste water in 6 regions in Viet Nam

Facts and statistics of domestic wastewater
management

Chart No 3: Ratio of standard waste water treatment plant in 6 types of cities in Viet Nam

Facts and statistics of Industrial wastewater
management
RegionProvince

Volume (m3/day)

Ha NoiBac Giang
Ninh Binh
Bac Ninh
Nghe AnThanh Hoa
Khanh Hoa
Binh Dương

75,00051,00013,00065,00026,5782,800
10,000136,700

South Eastern Delta

Ho Chi Minh city

143,701

Mekong Delta

Ba Ria-Vung Tau
Dong Thap

56,88012,477

Red River Delta

Northern Central and Coastal
CentralTable No 2: Generation of industrial waste water in several provinces in Viet Nam

Facts and statistics of Industrial wastewater
management

Chart No 4: Percentage of waste water treatment plants in industrial parks in Viet Nam

Legislative framework for water environmental
governance
LAW ON ENV. PROTECTION
2020
15 chapters, 171 articles

1. Water quality management
and control of discharge tothe water environment
2.
Management
wastewaterof

3. Supportive tools tomanagement
ofwaterenvironment

LAW ON WATERRESOURCES 20121.
Preventionofwaterpollution, degradation andshortage
2. Monitoring
resourcesofwater

3. Water resources protectioncorridor

Legislative framework for water environmental governance• Set of National Technical Regulations (QCVN): 01 QCVN for surface water quality;
12 QCVN for waste water; 03 QCVN for waste water applied to the Capital area:•

QCVN 08-MT:2015/BTNMT for surface water quality•

QCVN 09-MT:2015/BTNMT for Groundwater quality standard•

QCVN 10-MT:2015/BTNMT for Coastal water quality standard•

QCVN 14:2008/BTNMT for domestic waste water•

QCVN 25:2010/BTNMT for waste water from landfill•

QCVN 28:2010/BTNMT for hospital and medical waste water•

QCVN 29:2010/BTNMT for waste water from oil ans gasoline facitlity•

QCVN 40:2011/BTNMT for industrial waste water•

QCVN 01-MT:2015/BTNMT for waste water from pretreatment of natural rubber•

QCVN 11-MT:2015/BTNMT for waste water from seafood processing•

QCVN 12-MT:2015/BTNMT for waste water from paper and pulp industry•

QCVN 60-MT:2015/BTNMT for waste water from alcohol fuel processing•

QCVN 62-MT:2015/BTNMT for waste water from foundry•

QCVN 52-MT:2017/BTNMT for waste water from steel manufacturing•QCTĐHN 02:2014/BTNMT for industrial waste water in Ha Noi area•QCTĐHN 04:2014 for waste water from textile industry in Ha Noi area•QCTĐHN 05:2014 for waste water from paper and puld industry in Ha Noi area

Institutional framework for water environmental
governance
MONRE&MOC

MONRE
&MOC

MONRE,
MPI &MOF

Policy andLegal
Development

Programs&Projects

Bugdetallocations &management

Investment

Operations&Maintenance

DONRE
&DOC

DONRE
&DOC

Investors

Companies

Provicial
PC

Water supply
and Sewage
Co.

MONRE&MOC

Supervision&Control

Water quality monitoring framework• Legal framework for monitoring:• Decree 127/2014/ND-CP, 2014 providing regulation on conditions andrequirements of monitoring services• Decree 38/2015/ND-CP on the management of waste and secondary
materials• Monitoring activities• MONRE maintaining annual monitoring programs for surface water at 360
locations with frequency of 4-5 round per year; Line ministries monitor at 100
locations in urban and industrial areas with frequency of 3-6 round per year.
• Provincial DONREs maintaining annual monitoring programs for surface waterat 5 – 30 locations with frequency of 2-6 round per year varies by provinces.
• There are 23 central government-operated automatic monitoring station and80 provincial government-operated stations.
• There are 420 automatic monitoring stations operated by industry

Enforcement instruments for water environment
management• Legal framework for inspection:• Decree 155/2016/ND-CP on the administrative penalties in the field ofenvironmental protection• Decree 142/2013/ND-CP on the administrative penalties in the field of water
resources and minerals• Enforcement activities• 2014 – 2018, MONRE has implemented inspection at more than 3,000entities. 1,400 entities among those had violations and paid the penalties
equivalent to 200 bil. VND.
• Provincial DONREs also organised about 3,000 inspections at 10,000 entities
including companies, industrial parks, 4,100 entities among those got theadministrative penalties.

Future targets/plans, issues and challenges ofwater environment governance
1. Review Law on Environmental Protection and under-law legal
documents
2. Strengthening the capacity of the institutional framework to
avoid overlapping areas in water governance at the central andlocal level
3. Issue policy and regulation to promote the development ofenvironmental technology for waste water treatment
4. Development of policies that promote cooperation between
government agencies, private sectors and civil society; policies
to promote privatization and investment to wastewater
treatment and management

Thank you for your attention!