Urbanization and Water Quality
Control in Vientiane Capital
by: Kongngeun Chounlamountry
Department of Water Resources
Water Resources and Environment
Administration

Content Outlines
I.

Socio-economical and natural conditions

II. Situation of quantity and quality of thewater source
III. Effluent load to the source
IV. Current measures on quality control for thewater source
V. Current issues on quality control for thewater source

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Main characteristics
zz
zzz

zzz

Lao PDR:
land locked
Area: 236,800 km²
Population: 5,8 million (in2006)
density: about 24/km²
Climate Condition: Tropical,
influenced by the Southeast
monsoon
80% of which are mountainous,
mainly in the Northern region,
the remaining 20% comprisingmostly flat floodplains along
the Mekong River,
35% of flow contribution to theMeKong River3

Map of VTC

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Backgroundz Vientiane Capital City contains almost 1,500 km2

of permanent and seasonal water bodies,floodplains, swamps and marshes. The wetland
areas supply a wide range of economicallyvaluable goods and services, including fisheryproducts, farming and natural resource collection
activities, maintenance of water quality andsupplies, and treatment of domestic, agriculturaland industrial wastes.
5Vientiane Cityz Water quality of river and marsh is getting

worse and water quantity is increased due toinflow of domestic waste water from urban
area , rapid economic growth, increased
population, huge infrastructure construction
z Need formulation of master plan forimprovement of water environment inVientiane City.
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Socio-economical andnatural conditionsz Area: 3,920 km2
z Number of Population in Vientiane Capital:– 1980: 196731– 1990: 474,000– 2000: 680,000– 2005: 692,900– 2010: 788,165

Density: 50 p¥km2
Density: 121 p¥km2
Density: 173 p¥km2
Density: 176 p¥km2
Density: 201 p¥km2
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z Mean annual precipitation in VT C isapproximately 1,700mm (JICA, 2002) , thewhole country ranges from 900 mm to3,500 mm and about 90% of precipitation
occurs from May through October.
z RGDP : 350 USD and 490 USD in 2000
and 2005 respectively
z 58% of population has access to watersupply at the national level while 62% in
Vientiane City.
89Socio-economical andnatural conditionsz Stormwater and wastewater originated from theVientiane city area are collected through the open
sewer system and are conveyed via That Luang
marsh, Nakai marsh and the Mak Hiao river to theMekong mainstream. Thatluang Marsh is currently
performing wastewater treatment services fordomestic wastewater and plays a significant rolein both flood control and wastewater purification
for the city
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Situation of quantity andquality of water source– Volume of abstracted

water: no information
available– Water use for thewhole country: 82 %for agriculture, 10 %for industry and 8% for
domestic / municipal
usezz

Surface water in VT C
(reservoir’ name):
334,719 m3(river’ name):
78,714,530 m3– Ground water: 3,958,117

m3– Domestic use: 67,57%– Industrial use: 8,30%
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Effluent load to thesourcez Land use around the water source:z Most of land uses are converted toeconomic value especially for constructionof infrastructure according to thegovernment policy how to convert land use
into investment

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Effluent load to the water
sourcez The wastewater from individual households

in Vientiane is discharged into open drains
along the roads and into the naturalwetlands in and around the city.
z There are 1,256 households discharged theirsewage directly into the surface water and501 households with no toilet at all withinareas that are draining into Hong Ke andThat Luang Marsh.
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Effluent load to the sourcez Biological Oxygen Demand was 2.0.
z BOD values observed were not so high, allowingthat the data were all in the rainy seasonz Domestic wastewater, actual data is not available
in Vientiane City, 45 g/capita/day, is applied.
z In 2002, industrial wastewater in VT City is about
8,224,000 m3¥year and in 2020, assumed as
9,490,000 m3 ¥ year or 26,000 m3 /day18

Effluent load to thesourcez Situation of domestic wastewater treatment in theareas without access to central domestic wastewater
treatment plant.
z The poor drainage of wastewater from septic tanks
and poorly designed on-site sanitation has created amajor concern for public health, causing widespreadpollution of surface water and groundwater.

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BOD Load to water sourcez The BOD values in the downstream points of theHong Pasak and Hong Wattay Drainage Canals
were considerably decreased, as compared withthe values in the upstream points. Almost 70% of
the BOD value was decreased in the Hong Pasak
Drainage Canal, and almost 50% of the BODvalue was decreased in the Hong Wattay Drainage
Canal20

BOD Load to water sourcez The highest BOD of 15.4 mg/l was observed atdownstream end of Hong Thong, of Hong Pasak
and of Hong KhouaKhao with the BOD values of14.3 mg/l and 11.6 mg/l, respectively.
z There is a limitation of BOD data monitored onlyin the rainy season, BOD values were not so high,especially in the lower part.

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Current measures on quality
control for the water sourcez Lao National Environment Standard No.

2734¥PMO. WEREA dated 7¥12¥2009
z Water quality standards:– Standard for drinking water: organic– Standard for drinking water in container: physicand chemistry– Standard for ground water in general– Standard for ground water (drinking water)– Standard for surface water

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Water quality monitoringz Standard for wastewater discharge fromindustry (in general)z Standard for wastewater discharge fromsugar cane industry
z Standard for wastewater discharge fromtextile and garment with dying industry
z Standard for wastewater discharge frompaper mill industry
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Water quality monitoringz Water quality monitoring (February 2009)

two monitoring activities:
z (1) periodical monitoring in two times in thedry season and once in the rainy season,z (2) longitudinal simultaneous monitoring toclarify water quality changes along thecanal network once in the every rainy anddry season.
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Current issues on water quality
control for the water sourcez wastewater from poorly operatinghousehold septic tanks still predominantly
discharge into open drains along the roads
and into natural wetlands.
z Raising public awarenessz Lack of ground water data25

Current issues on water quality
control for the water sourcez Uncontrolled of land use due to migration

and rapid growth of populationz lacking a proper sanitation network, which
is seriously threatening the health situationof the population due to discharge of
wastewater into low-land areas.

26Current issues on water quality
control for the water sourcez Shortage of qualified human resourcesz Lack of appropriate legal instrumentz Lack of sufficient budget for conducting thesamples.
z Lack of appropriate instruments to measure waterquality
z Need to improve laboratory for water quality
control
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