Vietnam, Demark Boost Cooperation in Water Development & Waste Treatment

The Vietnamese-Danish Water Days 2011 was opened by the Danish Embassy in Vietnam on March 29, 2011. This is one of the major events commemorating the 40th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two nations.

 

Danish Ambassador to Vietnam, John Nielsen, said: In recent years, Denmark has undertaken many cooperative activities to support Vietnam’s development, including targeted clean water and sanitation programmes. Clean water system, wastewater treatment problems and urban water control requires improvements to meet the economic development of Vietnam today. In Denmark, domestic water consumption has been reduced by 35 percent over the last two decades, and the water loss from Denmark’s network is only 6-7 percent, which is near a world record. In order to achieve these results, Danish companies have developed a number of innovative services and products for the water sector and today are well-known for being climate friendly and energy efficient with low operating costs and high levels of automation. Strict Danish environmental legislation has led to the development of a very efficient Danish water industry and a cleaner environment in Denmark.

 

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Thai Lai, said: Vietnam now has 755 urban areas and its urban population is some 30 million. On average, one new urban zone is established each month. Clean water supply has not caught up with the urbanisation and as a result, only 70 percent of the nation’s urban population has access to clean water, at 100 litres per person a day. Or in other words, some 30 percent of the population lacks access to clean water supply. The rate of clean water loss in the systems now stands at 30-40 percent, primarily due to backward and weak technology and infrastructure, spreading leakages of outdated pipeline systems. The process of urbanisation has also pressured water resources and other services involving water supply, drainage, environmental protection, and resource protection. Deputy Minister Nguyen Thai Lai said the urban population is forecast to reach 35 million by 2015 and 52 million by 2025. The target of providing enough clean water for all urban residents by 2020 is a tough challenge. In rural areas, 83 percent of population have access to hygienic household water. But, only some 42 percent of the population uses clean water that meets new national standards and the target of supplying 60 litres of clean water for all residents by 2020 will be a huge challenge.

 

At present, Vietnam has about 240 urban water plants with a combined designed daily capacity of 5.4 million cubic metres, but the actual output is only around 4.5 million cubic metres a day, not only because of backward technology and infrastructure, but also the degradation of water resources in both quantity and quality.

Lowering of water levels, subsidence, pollution and depletion of groundwater caused by overexploitation are common problems. As a result, water sources are susceptible to polluted wastewaters discharged by large cities, residential, urban and industrial areas. These matters are forecast to be exacerbated by impacts of increasing natural disasters and climate change, which increase the risk of flooding, drought and water source degradation. Deputy Minister Nguyen Thai Lai hopes all companies will apply clean technology and advanced equipment from now till 2020 to ease pollution and treat waste. Urban zones, industrial parks and export processing zones must have central wastewater treatment systems.

 

Speaking of this matter, Dr Pham Ngoc Thai, an official of the Vietnam Water Supply Association, said: “Water supply and treatment problems are a problem for all urban zones in Vietnam. According to the Ministry of Construction, less than 10 percent of them have wastewater treatment systems. Existing drainage systems carry both rainwater and sewage. Third and fourth-grade urban zones do not have sewage systems and wastewater treatment facilities. The collection and treatment of wastewater has just started with some large cities. Bad drainage systems cause frequent wet season flooding. Each day, the capital Hanoi discharges about half a million cubic metres of wastewater, which 100,000 cubic metres are emitted by industrial factories, hospitals and other sectors, harming the operations of companies and human health. The Government’s Decree 88/2007 on water drainage and wastewater treatment is the first important legislation to develop water drainage and wastewater treatment in all urban areas in Vietnam.

 

To support commercial water programmes in Vietnam, Mr John Rockhold, Director of Vietnam Branch of Grontmij Carl Bro, said: Important objectives from now to 2020 include: 100 percent of new companies will use pollution-minimising technologies and 50 percent of satisfy environmental standards; 40 percent of urban zones and 70 percent of industrial zones have centralised wastewater treatment systems; 80-90 percent of solid waste is collected; 60 percent of hazardous waste must be treated; 95 percent of urban citizens and 75 percent of rural residents will have clean water access.

 

The Vietnamese-Danish Water Days 2011 was a chance for water companies and authorities to share experience and knowledge of models and practical solutions to deal with current difficulties and challenges against the Vietnamese water sector. Danish Ambassador John Nielsen expressed his hopes that attendants as well as representatives from 11 Danish water companies will share new business opportunities. These business cooperation ties will contribute to the sustainable development of water supply and distribution activities in Vietnam.