Updates of Water Environment
Governance in VIETNAM
Tran Thi Thu AnhVietnam Environmental and Marine Sciences Institute,
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam
30 January, 2024
The 19th Annual Meeting in Hayama, Japan1

1. Goals of water environment
The purpose of water environment governance in Vietnam is to control water
quality to prevent and reduce water pollution in river basins, ground water andsea water so that the protection of human health, the conservation of
biodiversity and sustainable development will be ensured.
Currently, according to the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection
2020, water environment protection is applied in 3 types:
Law onEnvironmental
Protection2020(LEP 2020)

Law on Marine
and Island
Resources andEnvironment

Protecting the surface waterenvironment (Article 7, LEP 2020)

Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP
Detailing a number of articlesof the Law on Environmental
Protection 2020

Protecting the marine environment(Article 5, LEP 2020)

Decree No. 53/2020/ND-CP
stipulating environmental
protection fees for waste water

Protecting the ground water
environment (Article 11, LEP 2020)

Decree No. 45/2022/ND-CP on
penalties for administrativeenvironmental protection
offences

22 articles (from Article 42 - 63) regulate the control of marine andisland environmental pollution; Respond to oil and toxic chemical
spills at sea; engulf in the sea
2

1. Goals of water environment
Protecting the surface water environment (Article 7, LEP 2020) Surface water quality: must be monitored and evaluated; The loading capacity of the surface water environment must becalculated, determined and announced;
 Waste sources entering the surface water environment must bemanaged in accordance with the intended use and the loading capacityof the surface water environment.
Protecting the marine environment (Article 5, LEP 2020):
 Sources of discharge into the seawater environment must beinvestigated, evaluated and measures taken to prevent, minimize,strictly control, and treat to meet environmental protection requirements.
 Areas at risk of marine and island environmental pollution must beassessed, identified and announced.
 Exploitation of marine resources must be consistent with planning andmeeting requirements for environmental protection and sustainabledevelopment.
3

1. Goals of water environment
Protecting the ground water environment (Article 10, LEP 2020)
 Groundwater sources must be monitored and evaluated; Exploration drilling and ground water exploitation activities must have measures
to prevent pollution of the ground water environment; Facilities that use toxic chemicals and radioactive substances must havemeasures to ensure no leakage or dispersion into ground water sources.
 Facilities for storing raw materials, fuel, chemicals, waste, and treatment areas
must be built to ensure technical safety and not pollute the ground waterenvironment.

4

1. Goals of water environment
Currently, there are 13 national technical regulations on water environment
quality, including 3 new national technical regulations issued in 2023, asfollows: National Technical Regulation on:
 Surface Water Quality (QCVN 08:2023/BTNMT) Ground Water Quality (QCVN 09:2023/BTNMT) Marine Water Quality (QCVN 10:2023/BTNMT);
 Livestock wastewater used for crops: QCVN 01-195:2022/BNNPTNT;
 Clean water quality used for domestic purposes: QCVN 01-1:2018/BYT;
 Livestock wastewater: QCVN 62-MT:2016/BTNMT; The effluent of aquatic Products Processing industry : QCVN 11MT:2015/BTNMT The effluent of natural rubber processing industry: QCVN 01-MT:2015/BTNMT Textile and dyeing industry wastewater: QCVN 13-MT:2015/BTNMT; Steel manufacturing industrial wastewater: QCVN 52:2017/BTNMT Industrial wastewater: QCVN 40:2011/BTNMT The effluent of petroleum terminal and Stations: QCVN 29:2010/BTNMT Technical infrastructure works solid waste treatment and public toilet
 QCVN 25:2009/BTNMT Domestic wastewater: QCVN 14:2008/BTNMT5

2. Assess the status of water environment
The surface water environment:
There are 697 rivers and streams in 16 river basins in Vietnam.
The water environment quality of river basins is assessed on the basis of theresults of national and local monitoring programs through the water quality
index (VN-WQI).

2. Assess the status of water environment
Very good

Good Medium

badpolluted

heavy pollution

Nationwide
Cau basin
Nhue -Day basin
Hong – Thai Binh basin

Ma basin
Ca - La basin
Huong basin
Vu Gia – Thu Bon basin
Dong Nai system basin

Mekong (Vietnam)

Ratio of WQI index according to levels at monitoring points in river basins in the period
2016 - 2020. Source: VEA, 2021.
Note: National thematic reports every 5 years

2. Assess the status of water environment
According to the National Environment report (2021) of MONRE:
Surface water pollution in urban areas
 Water environment quality in river basins is mainly good to average;
 River water can be used for aquaculture, irrigation and domestic water supply
purposes but requires treatment measures; The level of "pollution" is recorded mostly on river sections flowing throughareas with developed socio-economic activities, specially through Hanoi and HoChi Minh City.
 In estuary areas, salinity intrusion continues and tends to increase, specially inthe downstream areas of Vu Gia - Thu Bon river and the Southeast.
 Most parameters for organic pollution (BOD5, COD), nutrients (Ammonium) of
surface water in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi exceed standards.
In addition, other urban areas in some provinces/cities such as Hai Phong, Hue, DaNang, Nam Dinh, Hai Duong... domestic wastewater is also not treated to pollute
surface water where wastewater is received (parameters: BOD5; COD; DO exceeds
allowable standards by 5-10 times, even 20 times).

2. Assess the status of water environment
Surface water pollution in rural areas
 Because of pesticide abuse and massive aquaculture, which lacks planning,water sources in rivers, lakes, canals, and ditches are polluted. This has had
many negative impacts on the water environment and human health.
Ground water quality: In general, ground water quality is quite good, most of the monitoring andanalysis parameters are within the range value of the national technicalregulation (QCVN 09-MT:2015/BTNMT).
 However, heavy metal and ammonium pollution in groundwater has beenrecorded in provinces where groundwater is largely exploited and used.
 Arsenic pollution in groundwater mainly occurs in the Northern Delta region.
 Values of ground water quality parameters tend to increase in the rainy season
and are influenced by topographic factors.
 Groundwater salinity intrusion is common in the Northern and Southern coastal.
Marine environment quality: In the period 2016 - 2020, the Marine environment quality is still quite good; Most of the particular parameter values are within the standard value of thenational technical regulation (QCVN 10-MT: 2015/BTNMT).

3. Identify pollution sources
In recent years, the surface water environment has been contaminated in variousways, and has even tended to increase in terms of area and level of pollution.
Main pollution sources as:







Industrial waste;
Domestic waste;
Medical Waste;
Plastic waste;
Environmental incidents;
Chemical incidents;
Agricultural production(Chemical fertilizers and pesticides); Others
Example of distribution of discharge sources
into a river basin10

4. Implement measures to address issues
1. To control at the waste source (Industrial waste): According to Clauses 1 and 2, Article 111 of the LEP 2020, facilities must
perform automatic and continuous wastewater environmental monitoring.
 According to Clause 4, Article 97, Decree 08/2022/ND-CP regulating automaticand continuous wastewater monitoring as following: Deadline for completing the installation of
an automatic, continuous wastewater
monitoring system (with cameras andautomatic
samplingequipment).
Connecting and transmitting data directly
to authority agencies on environmental
protection provincial level no later thanDecember 31, 2024.

Monitoring data sharing mechanism
in Vietnam
Government automatic
monitoring station

Provincial/enterp
rise automatic
monitoringstation

EVISOFT software in province

Government
automatic
monitoring station

EVISOFT software in Goverment

 The value of automatic and continuous
wastewater monitoring parameters isdetermined by the average daily (24 hour).
value.
11

4. Implement measures to address issues
2. Strengthening implementation of existing law and regulations:
To control and monitor hot spots and response activities to environmentalincidents.
3. Sanctions for violations:
Decree No. 45/2022/ND-CP stipulates
environmental protection offences:penalties

foradministrativeMaximum fine of 1 billion VND (43,478 USD) for individuals and 2 billion VND(86,956 USD) for organizations for administrative violations in the field ofenvironmental protection.
In addition, The Criminal Code of Vietnam 2017 (Chapter IX: Crime of polluting
the environment

12

5. Evaluating outcomes and revising policies
1. Installing an automatic wastewater monitoring system is difficult and expensivefor businesses;
2. The system of regulation and guidance documents for environmental
monitoring activities is still incomplete;
3. The system of technical regulations and economic-technical cost norms inenvironmental monitoring activities still has many insufficient and nonsynchronous;
4. The equipment system for monitoring activities is not synchronized, affecting
data quality;
5. Building a database on water quality and a mechanism to share informationand data on water quality management among Government, local levels andbusiness.
6. Build a monitoring and forecasting system for early warning of waterenvironment.
13

6. Challenges and future plans
Challenges:
 There has been no investigation, assessment of loading capacity, water quality
zoning and surface water environmental quality management plan in river basins.
 Awareness of businesses and people about protecting, exploiting and using water
resources is still limited.
 Human resources in the field of water environment in localities are lacking and do
not meet the requirements.
 There are no appropriate mechanisms and policies to mobilize social resources toparticipate in protecting and preventing pollution and degradation of waterenvironment.
Future plan: Improve mechanisms and policies: Research and propose mechanisms and policies to mobilize all resources,
especially socialization and investment in the form of public-private
partnerships in solid waste treatment and centralized wastewater treatment;
 Review all national technical regulations (QCVN) related to wastewater anddrainage;
14

6. Challenges and future plans
Future plan: Building technical infrastructure for environmental protection:
 Concentrating investment resources to build centralized domestic
wastewater collection and treatment, ensuring that wastewater generated inthe area is fully collected and treated to meet requirements for permitted
wastewater before discharging into the receiving environment.
 Build a database of waste sources to serve the management, control andmonitoring of waste sources; Continue to strengthen inspection of compliance with environmental
protection laws; prevent environmental crimes and handle environmentalviolations.
 Strengthen communication to raise awareness about environmental protection;
 Maximize the role of socio-political organizations, unions, and residential
communities in environmental protection;

15

THANK YOU
FOR YOURATTENTION !