MARKET RESEARCH REPORT

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1 MARKET RESEARCH REPORT WATER SECTOR IN VIETNAM: OVERVIEW, RECENT TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION PART 1 DRINKING WATER SECTOR IN VIETNAM Prepared by: David Nguyen Daniel Nguyen Paul Smith An Nguyen Vietnam, October 2017

2 Contents 1. COVERAGE: ASSESSING THE PAST PROGRESS RAW WATER SOURCES The quantity The quality URBAN WATER SUPPLY [2] RURAL AND HOUSEHOLD WATER SUPPLY Rural water supply Household water supply INDUSTRIAL WATER SUPPLY THE RECENT TRENDS The legal framework Equitization of the water sector The technological aspect The climate change and environment aspect OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION Public investment Private investment REFERENCES ABOUT THE AUTHORS... 37

3 1. COVERAGE: ASSESSING THE PAST PROGRESS Figure 1: Lack of clean water supply in 1900s (Source: Figure 2: Constructing clean water supply system (Source: vietnamnet.vn) With a population now in excess of 88 million, Vietnam is the world s thirteenth most populous country. It has also experienced one of the world s highest economic growth rates over the past two decades and recently graduated from low- to middleincome country status. This growth has been accompanied by a dramatic decline in the rate of poverty, which fell from 58% in the early 1990s to 14.5% by Data from the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) suggest that Vietnam has taken great strides in terms of increasing access to improved water supply and sanitation. In the case of urban water supply, the 1990 access rate to improved facilities was already high at 88%, and by 2011 had reached 99%, with 58% having a house connection. Nevertheless, there are significant disparities in access and service quality between big cities and smaller urban centers. In rural areas, access to improved water supply rose from 50% in 1990 to 94% by 2011, though only 9% have house connections. The most common types of improved source used are boreholes or tube wells, protected wells and rainwater collection each accounting for roughly one quarter of improved facilities [1]. Up to the end of 2011, according to MoC, Vietnam has had 753 urban areas that are classified as follows: 2 special urban areas including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 1

4 3 central cities are categories I - urban areas, including Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho. 8 provincial cities are categories I urban areas, including Hue, Da Lat, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon, Buon Ma Thuot, Thai Nguyen and Nam Dinh. 11 provincial cities are categories II urban areas, including Bien Hoa, Ha Long, Vung Tau, Viet Tri, Hai Duong, Thanh Hoa, My Tho, Long Xuyen, Pleiku, Phan Thiet and Ca Mau. 47 urban areas are categories III that are a town or a provincial city 42 urban areas are categories IV that are towns or township, townlets 640 urban areas are categories V that are townlets By the end of the year 2010, million people could have access to drinking water, accounting for 69% of the total urban population. Percentage of the population using drinking water in urban areas is recorded as follows: 70% of urban population in special urban areas and Categories I - urban areas, 45-55% of urban population in Categories II and III, 30-35% population of Categories IV - urban areas and 10-15% of population in Categories V - urban areas. The actual data above mentioned is lower than that of national target program on urban water supply development [2]. Table 1: Objectives of urban water supply development [1] Indicator Urban type Service coverage (%) Categories III or higher 90 Categories IV Categories V Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 2

5 2. RAW WATER SOURCES 2.1. The quantity Vietnam has about 835 billion m3 / year water surface, in which 522 billion m3 is the flow from abroad, accounting for 62.5%, only 313 billion m3/year is generated from the rainfall in the country, accounting for 37.5% [4]. There are about 2,378 rivers over 10 km of length which have a perennial flow, and 15 basins with an area of more than 2,500 km2 of which 10 river basins are of over 10,000 km2 in area. These account for 80% of the total area of Vietnam. The Mekong River's total runoff accounts for 59% of the total national runoff, followed by the Red River with 14.9%. And 7 of 10 largest rivers have basin sharing with the neighbouring countries [5]. With the river system is quite dense, natural lakes and artificial large and small reservoirs have made Vietnam water resource quite rich. Table 2 shows some main river catchment basins in Vietnam. Table 2: Main river catchment basins in Vietnam [6] Basin over 10,000 km2 Bac Giang and Ky Cung Hong (Red) and Thai Binh Ma Ca Vu Gia and Thu Bon Basin 2,500-10,000 km2 Thach Han Huong Tra Khuc Kone Gianh Ba Srepok Se San Dong Nai Cuc Long The Mekong Delta river system (Figure 3) comprises a relatively dense network of river courses and canals, including the natural river systems and canals: The main natural Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 3

6 river branches and canals in the Mekong delta are formed by the two systems of the Tien River and Hau River (respectively the lower branches of the Mekong and Bassac rivers). These rivers flow to the sea in estuaries via nine river mouths as Tieu, Dai, Ba Lai, Ham Luong, Co Chien, Cung Hau, Dinh An, Ba Thac and Tranh De (river mouths in the territory of Ba Thac in Soc Trang province have been covered in the 1970 s) and a short river Vam Nao river linking the Tien and Hau main branches. Vam Co River (including the Vam Co Dong-Vam Co Tay) runs parallel to the east of the Tien River, Cai Lon-Cai Be River, My Thanh, Ganh Hao, Ong Doc, Bay Hap rivers flow to the West and East Sea. The Tien and Hau rivers transfer the largest amounts of water with a total annual flow of billion m3 observed at station Tan Chau (on the Tien river) and billion m3 in station Chau Doc (on the Hau river); the flow rate on the Tien River / Hau River is 80/20. Both the Tien river and Hau river are wide and deep, with the average width of about m and an average depth of m (and locations where the depth is over 40 m). Vam Co River system consists of two branches (Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay), that originate in Cambodia, and flow east through the Mekong Delta. The Cai Lon-Cai Be are tidal rivers, derived from the center of the Ca Mau peninsula and flow to the sea through the Cai Lon river mouth. The estuary is very wide but not deep. The system of manmade canals in the Mekong delta was constructed primarily during the past century, with the primary purpose to develop agriculture and transportation. Until now, the canal system has developed into a dense network with 3 levels of major, primary and secondary canals. The primary and secondary canal systems have a high density, with some m / ha, and a total of 30,000-40,000 km of canals in all the Mekong Delta [7] Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 4

7 Figure 3: Sai Gon River, Cuu Long Basin (apart of Mekong basin) Source: ( The Red River (Figure 4) rises in the mountains of Yunnan Province in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and flows through Vietnam to the South China Sea, where it forms an extensive delta. Its total catchment area is 169,000 square kilometers, of which 51 percent lies in Viet Nam, 48 percent in the PRC, and less than 1 percent in Lao People's Democratic Republic. The climate is tropical to sub-tropical and is dominated by the east-asian monsoon. Seasonal variation of rainfall is significant, with only about 10 percent of the annual total occurring during the dry season from November to March. Consequently, the basin discharge is highly variable from a minimum recorded dry season discharge of 370 cubic meters per second (m3/s), to a maximum of m3/s. The Basin has a population of about 24 million people, of whom 17 million live in the Delta, making it one of the most densely populated rural areas in the world. The cultivated area in the Basin is close to 2 million hectares (ha), of which 650,000 ha is irrigated and 880,000 ha is covered by drainage systems [8] Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 5

8 Figure 4: Red River Red River Basin. (Source: Reserve of underground water according to other exploring documents is plentiful, but focusing largely in the Southern delta, and shortages in Northern and Central regions. Currently, the total amount of groundwater which can be exploited accounts for 20% of the total groundwater reserves which can be exploited. Many provinces in the country are mining underground water with quite large flow for daily use and industrial, agriculture and service production. Typically, these are Hanoi with 750,000 m3/ day, Ho Chi Minh with 1,600,000 m3/day, Tay Nguyen with 500,000 m3/day. Currently, there are over 240 urban water supply plants with a total design capacity is 3.42 million m3/day in which 92 plants use surface water source with a total capacity of 1.95 million m3/day and 148 plants use groundwater source with total capacity of 1.47 million m3/day. Many localities use both surface water and groundwater. Total capacity of existing plants can ensure water supply with 150 liters of pure water per day for each of the urban population [4]. As recommended by international organizations on water resource, mined water limitation allowed in countries should be limited within 30% of the flow. Meanwhile, Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 6

9 according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, almost provinces in Centre and Tây Nguyên have been exploited over 50% of the flow in dry season which makes that rivers exhausted. Regarding Ninh Thuận province alone, the flow has been exploited 70-80%. The figure of Irrigation Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) shows that water resources in river basins are severely reduced in number. Red River water level is increasingly lower (dry seasons of the year water level is down to 1.12 m, the lowest level since having monitoring station on Red River). The dry season in 2010, drought reached a record during the past 100 years in Red River Delta and 50 years in the Mekong Delta. Even there are days the water of Red River only left 0.1 m in Hanoi and 0.4 m in Mekong River in Lao. According to a recent research results of Center of monitoring and forecasting water resource, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, in ten years, the groundwater in some places in Hanoi down to 6m and some places in Ho Chi Minh City down to 10m. This situation will worsen in the next century when the water needed strongly increase [4] 2.2. The quality Many rivers are choked with contamination and untreated waste from craft villages and industrial production zones in Vietnam. Most of the monitored rivers are found to be polluted with substances like N and P, from 4 to nearly 200 fold compared with water resource of type A in and from 2 to 20 times in comparison with water source of type B in Vietnamese Standard limit. The monitored data for 4 rivers running the main urban of Vietnam as Red river (Hanoi), Cam River (Haiphong), Huong River (Hue) and Saigon River (HCM City) The result in Figure 5 and 6 showed that ammonia-nitrogen (NH4-N) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) vary was considerably and exceed national water quality class A standards by several fold. The problems are worst during the dry season, when the flows in the rivers are reduced [9] Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 7

10 Figure 5: BOD levels in Vietnamese major rivers [9] Figure 6: NH4 levels in Vietnamese major rivers [9] Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 8

11 The Cau, Nhue and Day rivers in the Northern Vietnam are also seriously polluted (Figure 7). Water in the Cau river contains many dangerous pollutants including industrial lubricants. Waste products dumped in rivers affect natural levels of bacteria and nutrients and biochemical reactions occur. BOD and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) levels are two to three times higher than Vietnamese standard limits. At a lower section of Cau river, the water quality had been infected with a high concentration of BOD and COD, which are 10 times Vietnamese standard limits. By 2010, it is forecast in the social-economic development plan put together by the provinces which the Cau river passes through, that levels of BOD will rise by 1.5 times of what they are now, phosphorus and nitrogen levels are also expected to increase by a similar amount. Rivers, which run through Hanoi city, are also containing very high concentration of COD, NO2, NO3- and SS. The water of Nhue river in Ha Tay province is turning black and noxious [9] Rivers in the southern region are in deep trouble and in a high alert situation (Figure 8). Organic pollution in Saigon, Vam Co Dong rivers is very serious. The COD level is three time higher than it should be. According to MONRE, there are about 4,000 enterprises discharging wastewater, of which 439 enterprises are the most serious, and are required reallocated, closed or will have to adopt cleaner technologies and treatment of their wastewater. In accordance with industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) in the Southern Key Economic Zone (SKEZ) discharge over 137,000 m³ of wastewater containing nearly 93 tons of waste into the Dong Nai, Thi Vai and Saigon Rivers each day. By 2010, waste in the Dong Nai river will increase by 1.7 times compared with Meanwhile, two out of 12 IPs and EPZs in Ho Chi Minh City, three out of 17 in Dong Nai, two out of 13 in Binh Duong, and none of the IPs and EPZs in Ba Ria-Vung Tau have wastewater treatment facilities [9] Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 9

12 Figure 7: Pollution in Cau River. (Source: Figure 8: Pollution in Saigon river (source: Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 10

13 The level of ammonia in the groundwater in Hanoi is higher than the National standard by 2-8 times. All samples taken from the upper aquifer exceed ammonia standard many times. Scientists estimate that with the current abstraction rate of 700,000 m³/day, there will be a high risk of lowering the water table down to 114 m and the groundwater pollution would spread over the Hanoi city. A broad survey of arsenic pollution in the 12 provinces of the Red River Delta, Mekong Delta and Central area was carried out from November 2003 to April 2004 by IET with UNICEF funding support. A total of 12,439 water samples were tested with arsenic in 419 communes of 33 districts in the 12 provinces. Analytical results showed that in some provinces of the Red River Delta and Mekong Delta, where tube well water had arsenic content exceeding much higher than the Vietnamese allowed standard (there are 34.92% and % of tube wells found with arsenic higher than 0.01 mg/l and 0.05 mg/l, respectively). Especially some communes in Ha Nam province, the tube wells water was a high arsenic level like Vinh Tru, Binh Luc, Duy Tien, Kim Bang communes (there are % and % of tube wells found with arsenic higher than 0.01 mg/l and 0.05 mg/l, respectively). 3 provinces in Mekong, in spite of that the number of field test was still limited, a remarkable number of water samples was found with high arsenic in Dong Thap province (39.15% tube wells found with arsenic higher than 0.05 mg/l) [9] In Ho Chi Minh city, the Union for Geology No. 8 reported that the number of damaged wells which could not be used due to salt intrusion was 2,359: equivalent to 2.48 % of all surveyed wells. Among the 11 monitoring wells, which were set-up under the DOSTE/UNDP project VIE 96/023 during the first half of 2001, six of them have recorded nitrogen and pathogen related contamination (nitrate, ammonium and coliform). In comparison to standards in TCVN (Groundwater quality standard), the number of wells which exceeded standards for chlorine and pathogenic pollutants was 2 of 11 wells. Iron concentration of groundwater in HCMC is higher than that of the drinking water quality standards (0.3 mg/l). ph level of most surveyed wells is also lower than that of the Standards (ph < 6.5). The iron concentration in the lower Pliocene Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 11

14 aquifer is higher than that of the other aquifers, especially in Cu Chi, Binh Chanh District. Heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg, Cd, Se, Ni and As) are not detected in all aquifers. Although Phenol and Cyanogen concentration still meet groundwater quality standards, they tends to increase with time and should be continuously monitored (Nga,2006). The coliform contamination happened at some monitoring wells in the Pleistocene aquifer in 2002 [10] In 2003, among ten samples, coliform level of three samples exceeded the limited value of TCVN In 2004, among ten samples, the coliform number of six samples was above the limited value. DONRE (2005) reported that Pleistocene and upper Pliocene aquifers were contaminated by coliform due to infiltration of domestic wastewater through wells with poor construction and maintenance. TOC level of monitoring well ranges from 2.8 mg/l to 81 mg/l in In general, the average TOC concentration of GW is less than 2 mg/l under an uncontaminated environment (Deborah Chapman, 1995). Therefore, the groundwater in HCMC could be contaminated by organic compounds. The high TOC concentration is found in the following areas (i) Dong Thanh landfill (80.9 mg/l), (ii) Dong Hung Thuan-District 12 (18.1 mg/l), (iii) Bau Cat- Tan Binh (16.7 mg/l), Tan Tao-Binh Tan (13 mg/l) and (iv) Binh Hung-Binh Chanh (12.5 mg/l). TOC values at these locations in 2004 were higher than that of the previous years, while TOC at the other locations were stable [10] 3. URBAN WATER SUPPLY [2] According to Ministry of Construction, current situation of urban water supply in the whole country is as follows: In Vietnam, there are 68 water supply companies, supplying drinking water to urban areas with a combined installed capacity of 5.5 million cubic meters per day but operating at 4.8 million cubic meters per day [11]. Surface water sources account for 70% of the total source water and 30% of the rest is ground water. There are more than 420 water supply systems with a total designed capacity of 5.9 million m3/day. Operation capacity reaches 4.5 million m3/day, equal to 77% of the designed capacity. Capacity of the water supply system is still limited due to Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 12

15 inadequate investment in water treatment plants, pipe networks for transmission and distribution of drinking water supply. According to VWSA, because distribution networks are not upgraded in synchronization with treatment plants, the rate of nonrevenue water due to water leakage is 30%, especially even up to 38-40% in some cities such as Hanoi, HCM City. Although current capacity of urban water supply has increased to 3 times and 2 times in comparison to that of 1975 and 1990, rapid urbanization process and many industrial parks, newly formed urban areas and sharply increased urban population, water supply system has not been able to meet all demands of water use from urban residents. Therefore, two third of small towns are without centralized water supply systems. Besides, due to difficulties in investment fund and capacity of water supply companies, the lack of synchronization in planning development of water supply systems and implementation of the plan, many water supply systems have been upgraded and their capacities were increased; however, their operation is still under their designed capacity. According to Benchmarking data from VWSA only 35 out of 67 cities surveyed (accounting for 60%) could ensure continuous water supply with 24 hrs/day. In most of the rest cities, their water supply systems were only in operation in hrs/day and for 3-4 cities, the operation was only in 8-10 hrs/day. Due to the rapid decrease of pressure in the distribution network, water only could flow into underground tanks at households, but could not flow up to higher water tanks by itself. In addition, quality of supplied water at households was not guaranteed according to sanitation standards, although the quality of treated water from treatment plants could meet the standards of supplied water. The cause is that water is distributed in pipes with low pressure or without pressure or even negative pressure, and connections are broken. These causes could lead to the situation in which water easily is filtrated when flowing in the pipes. When the inside pressure increases so adequately that water can flow in the pipes by itself (higher than 0.6 m/s), sediments staying long in the pipe systems can flow pipes too and decreases water quality when Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 13

16 supplying to households. According to the survey results, at present there are around 50% of distribution networks to meet standards of drinking water. In Hanoi City, urban areas are mainly served with underground water. Most amounts of underground water are exploited to serve central areas in the city, including districts and suburb areas in the South West of Red River. Since the decade of 90s, threats to underground water source were reported, including reduction of water level in wells, reduction of exploited water amount, water pollution and land subsidence. Therefore, the city government has banned new exploitation of underground water inside the city and oriented that exploitation and usage of underground water inside the city should be gradually decreased. Water supply development in the coming years will rely mainly on surface water sources from Da, Red and Duong Rivers. Figure 5 shows the planning of underground and surface drinking water supply in Ha Noi [9] Figure 9: Planning of underground and surface drinking water supply in Ha Noi. Source: Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 14

17 In Hai Phong City, 5 main rivers including Bach Dang, Cam, Lach Tray, Van Uc and Thai Binh flow through the city to the Gulf of Tonkin. Because these rivers affected by tides, the main water source of the city is the secondary sub-river, protected from tide impacts (intrusion of saline water). Culverts to collect raw water are located in suburb areas and at present, there is no problem of raw water quality. Data of monitoring water quality collected by Hai Phong DoNRE show that surface water source has sign of pollution due to wastewater intrusion from domestic activities. The city has to take into account measures to protect water source in the future. Thua Thien Hue province and Da Nang City have to apply measures to cope with salination at raw water intake works. Because these rivers in the provinces have typical features of rivers in the central region of Vietnam with a large seasonal variation in water levels, ensuring water supply needs to consider in the view of long-term integrated water resources management. Da Den Dam supplies 94% of water source for large urban areas such as Vung Tau city and Ba Ria Town in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. In 2010, water level of Da Den Dam abnormally decreased due to extension of the dry season. Ba Ria Vung Tau Water Supply Company has a plan to supply additionally water from a reservoir which will be built in Ray River to Da Den Dam through an open channel with a distance of 30 km. Dong Nai River is a huge water source for HCM City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces. At present, the river serves 74% of raw water source for HCM City, 64% - for Dong Nai and 87% - for Binh Duong. However, some parameters of raw water quality exceed permissible limits for Type A of the national standards on surface water - QCVN 08:2008/BTNMT. With water source from Dong Nai River, water treatment process allows to meet standards for domestic water and drinking water in the urban areas. However, if intake points of raw water collection are impacted by salination due to the impacts from climate change, it is very difficult to ensure water quality. At raw water intake works in Sai Gon River, the risk of water pollution became very serious. HCM Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 15

18 City government has considered moving raw water intake works in Sai Gon River to a farther location in the upstream area, at lake Dau Tieng in Tay Ninh province. Figure 10 shows the B.O.O Thu Duc drinking water treatment plant in HCM city. Figure 10: B.O.O Thu Duc Drinking water treatment plant in HCM city (Source: 4. RURAL AND HOUSEHOLD WATER SUPPLY 4.1. Rural water supply Vietnam has performed well in moving towards universal water supply, increasing access to improved drinking water sources from 62% in 1990 to 95% in In rural areas there are still challenges to increasing access to piped water supply; the access rate is 9% compared with 61% in urban areas. Expanding piped water access is essential if the government is to meet its targets and provide all rural households with access to 60 liters of clean water per person per day, universal access to hygienic latrines and suitably Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 16

19 improved personal hygiene. Private operators and communes play a significant role in building and operating most piped water systems in rural areas [14]. According to the material of the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation in Phase 3 ( ), by 2010, a total rural population using sanitary water was 48,752,457, increasing 8,630,000 people in comparison to the end of The rate of rural population having access to sanitary water increased from 62% to 80%, lower than planned 5% and an average increase of 3.6%/year, in which the rate of rural people used domestic water meeting Vietnamese standard QCVN 02/2009: BYT or higher is 40%, 10 % less than planned. In 7 ecological economic zones, South East area has the rate of rural population having access to sanitary water of 90%, 10% higher than the national average rate. The lowest rate 72% was in the West Highland area and 73% in the Central North, lower than the average of 8% [2] Some advances in technological science in water supply appropriate to topographical, meteorological and hydrographic conditions of the locality were applied. In the small scaled water supply, water treatment technology and techniques were renovated such as aeration system for removal of iron and arsenic from drilled wells using underground water in the shallow aquifers (Figure 11). A lot of synchronized equipment made of different materials to treat water were introduced and applied throughout the country (Figure 12). Some centralized water supply schemes applied automatic filtration technology without valves, chemical treatment (for removing iron arsenic, and manganese and handling hardness etc.), inverter pumping systems, IT systems in operation management etc. Technology of hanging ponds was renovated with a larger scope and higher quality to contribute to solving scarcity of water source in the mountainous and hilly areas in dry seasons When natural disasters occur, localities used chloramine B and Aquatab, Pur bag etc. to treat water for drinking and cooking purposes [2] Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 17

20 Figure 11: Conventional aeration system in rural water treatment plant (Source: ) Figure 12: Advanced aeration and filter tank in rural water treatment plant (Source Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 18

21 4.2. Household water supply A wide variety of containers - from traditional ceramic jars to plastic buckets - are used to store drinking water in homes. Urban and peri-urban households are more likely to store water in plastic buckets; these range in size from 20 to 220 liters. The containers are covered with lids to protect the water inside from insects and contamination. Women and girls are responsible for collecting, storing, and boiling water in almost all households, as well as for cleaning the water storage containers. In parts of northern and central Vietnam that experience extended dry periods, households in both peri-urban and rural areas build large brick and cement tanks to collect rainwater during the wet season. These hold three to ten cubic meters of water. Because piped water systems do not necessarily operate all day or every day, some urban households store tap water in 1,000- liter plastic or stainless steel tanks (Figure 13) [15]. In addition, urban households nowadays concern about their piped water quality so that they often install the point-ofuse treatment facility such as RO machine in their kitchen (Figure 14) Figure 13: Household water storage tank in Vietnam (Source: Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 19

22 Figure 15: RO Water treatment installed in household kitchen(source: 5. INDUSTRIAL WATER SUPPLY Industrial water supply occupies about 14% of total water supply in Vietnam (Figure 16). Table 4, 5 show planning for industrial water supply in terms of quantity in Thai Nguyen Provinces and Vinh Phuc Province, respectively. Most of industrial zone have the own water treatment plant (Figure 17). Some industrial zone buy water from urban water supply company. Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 20

23 Figure 16: Proportional water supply in Vietnam. (Source: ) Table 4: Planning of industrial water supply in Thai Nguyen Provinces (Source: Decision:2546/QĐ-UBND Thai Nguyen date of 29/11/2013) No Industrial Zone Water demand (m3/d) Song Cong I IZ Song Cong II IZ Quyet Thang IZ Diem Thuy IZ Nam Pho Yen IZ Yen Binh IZ Total Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 21

24 Table 5: Planning of Vinh Phuc Provincial water supply (including industrial water supply) (source: Decision 3818/QĐ-UBND Vinh Phuc, date 29/12/2014) No Demand Average water usage Maximum water usage Domestic water Industrial water Commercial water Non-revenue water Total Figure 17: Water treatment plant in Yen Phong IZ, Bac Ninh Province (Source: Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 22

25 6. THE RECENT TRENDS 6.1. The legal framework The Government issued the Decree No 117/2007/ND-CP dated July 11, 2007 on drinking water production, supply and consumption including activities in production, supply and consumption in centralized water supply systems in urban areas, rural areas, industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech zones and economic areas (commonly called industrial zones). This decree stipulated rights and obligations of organizations, individuals and households taking part in activities related to production, supply and consumption of drinking water in Vietnam. After a short time of application, the Decree No 124/2011 ND-CP dated December 28, 2011 to amend and update the Decree No 117/2007/ND-CP on production, supply and consumption of drinking water was timely issued. In 2009, Vietnamese Government updated orientations for development of urban water supply sector. The Decision No 1929/QD-TTg dated November 20, 2009 described the orientation for development of water supply sector in Vietnam in urban areas and industrial parks by the year 2005, the vision to The process of urban water supply development was studied to meet 100% of the demand for water use with a norm of water usage of 120 L/capita/day and reduction of non-revenue water down to 15% and 24 hours/day water supply service in all urban areas in Vietnam up to the year 2025 [2]. Recently, the Government updated Orientation via Decision No. 2502/QD-TTg dated December 22, The most updated Orientation has some significant points such as public health and livelihood security, improvement of wellbeing, support the low-income group and special remote area, safe water supply in the context of climate change, prioritize surface water and gradually reduce groundwater etc. The National Orientation Plan and later government decisions have set in motion a fundamental process of change from centralized sector management to a system in which the national Government retains responsibility for policy making, sector monitoring, and facilitation, and local governments assume asset ownership and responsibility for Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 23

26 providing WSS services. Decentralization has fundamentally changed the way the sector is managed [19] 6.2. Equitization of the water sector State-owned water enterprises were restructured and granted autonomy in financial management and independence. Equitization of infrastructure management organizations is a significant step forward in improving the autonomy and accountability of businesses. It also paves the way for the involvement of the private sector and foreign investment in water supply services. Socializing the provision of infrastructure services in general and water supply in particular has many benefits: attract more financial resources; raise the efficiency of construction and operation investment, improve the quality of services; create a transparent and attractive business environment for domestic and foreign private investment in each economic sector. Competition is the strongest mechanism to improve the efficiency of water supply and drainage services. Competition creates the motivation for businesses to reduce costs to meet the needs of users and to apply new technology when they occur [19] The technological aspect Some drinking water treatment plants have been invested significantly in terms of advanced technologies. Di An drinking water treatment plant in Binh Duong city and Tan Hiep drinking water treatment appear to be typical examples. In Di An WTP, the treatment processes are shown in Figure 18. In chemical mixing chamber, Polyaluminium chloride (PAC) and Lime (Figure 19) is added in the water pumped from the primary pumping station in this tank. The SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) (Figure 20) system receives the signal from ph and Turbidity meter (installed directly in this tank) and then automatically calculates and apply the chemical dose. Table 6 shows some aspects of water service management posing threat Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 24

27 Figure 18: Treatment processes in Di An Water treatment plant Figure 19: Chemical mixing tank [19] Figure 20: SCADA system [19] Table 6: Aspects of water service management posing threat Problems Causes Solution High turbidity in settled water High turbidity in filtered water High turbidity in river water in rainy season Not enough PAC concentration, short HRT The filter media gets clogged High filtration rate Check and adjust PAC concentration Change HRT Conduct the backwash step Check the filtration rate Increase the number of filtration tank in the operation mode Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 25

28 High Alkalinity in treated water Algae grow in filtration tank Low ph in river water Exceed PAC in use Warm weather Change the PAC concentration Add Chlorine include: High P and N concentration Check the N, P concentration in water The recent investment made and achievements for the plant s improvement Di An WTP 2 is been constructed to meet the rising demand. The construction is being carried out in two phases: Phase 1 : capacity 50,000 m3/d completed Phase 2: capacity 100,000 m3/d The filter media is replaced every 10 years Constructed a micro electricity generator, to prevent power cut off Before the year of 2000, the plant used vertical sedimentation tank. After 2000, it was changed to horizontal shape The DAWTP has a decentralized complain office 99 % are satisfied with the service (water quality, water pressure, price) Most of the complaint issue are broken pipe and water meter problem In Tan Hiep WTP, the treatment processes are shown in Figure 21 [20] Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 26

29 Figure 21: Treatment processes in Tan Hiep Water Treatment Plant [20] The decline in water level and the increase of saline intrusion is complicating the water supply system. It creates difficulty as most WTPs are not able to handle salt water. In the dry season, when salinity of the Saigon River increases up to 350 mg/l, Tan Hiep WTP needs to shut down temporarily. It otherwise causes interruption of raw water and clean water pumps (i.e. vibration), errors of inverter control software and damaged devices (valves, chemical dosing system). In the dry season, filter blockage happens caused by the growth of algae in the filter tank. The phenomenon of floating sludge in sedimentation tank also occurs (due to large amount of sediment, adhesive and uplift sludge due to air bubbles generated from the anaerobic decomposition of organic components in the sludge). It has been reported that the quality of drinking water source of Saigon River has been deteriorating rapidly due to water pollution generated from human activities in the upstream basin catchment (COD concentration of mg/l). Particularly, high manganese concentration creates the sedimentation during water distribution pipes after handling at Tan Hiep WTP. To enhance the efficiency of manganese treatment, the plant uses chlorine to pre-oxidized water before entering the flocculation, sedimentation and filtration tanks. However, high ammonia, iron, organic Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 27

30 (COD, TOC) concentration in Saigon river water (many times excess regulations permitting) lead to a significant increase in chlorine consumption for pre- and postchlorination. Also, due to the high chlorine use along with the presence of natural organic matters in water, the formation ability of the disinfection by-products (DBPs) at Tan Hiep WTP increases. Additionally, the use of chlorine disinfection chemicals at the end pipes lead to risk incurring DBPs concentration in treated water In the existing water collection system at filter tank, it is likely to appear the dead spots due to the filter material layer. Therefore, the WTP is implementing the improvement of the filter with higher advantage HDPE filter technology (Figure 22) Figure 22: Recent changes in filter tanks in Tan Hiep water treatment plant [20] 6.4. The climate change and environment aspect By the end of 2014, the phenomenon of El Nino has impacted our country, causing the high temperature, lack of rainfall, causing drought, saline intrusion, causing severe damage and continues to seriously threaten production and people's lives. Severely affected areas are the South Central Coast, the Central Highlands, the South East and the Mekong Delta. Particularly in the Mekong Delta, the region is currently most severely affected by droughts, saline intrusion and continues to be affected in the future. At the same time, the salinity intrusion into the mainland is accelerating, and the salinity of the rivers is high.hence, the fresh water source is scarce causing the water shortage for Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 28

31 production and drinking water. About 250,000 households with over 1.3 million people in Mekong delta had the shortage of water during the drought in May 2016 [21]. In particular, by the end of 2015 and the first months of 2016, the salinity intrusion in the Mekong Delta has been most heavily evaluated in the last 100 years. Since February, salinity has remained high and serious. In the Tien and Hau rivers, the salinity is above 45, penetrating deep 70 km from the river mouth, even some places up to 85 km. From the end of 2015 up to now, all 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta have been affected by saline intrusion, including 11 out of 13 provinces reporting drought and saline intrusion, including Long An, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Kien Giang, Can Tho, Hau Giang, Ninh Thuan [22], [23] Figure 18: Saline intrusion in the Mekong Delta (Source:Van Pham Dang Tri) Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 29

32 7. OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION 7.1. Public investment The Circular 08/2012/TT-BXD signed on 21/11/2012 regarding the implementation of safe water supply has guided the water supply utilities to improve their services significantly as long as provides the orientation for investment. According to that, the requirement on assurance of safe water supply are: Maintaining water pressure, providing stable and sufficient water and ensuring feed water quality according to prescribed standards. Having solutions to cope with the unusual incidents, threats and risks which can occur in the entire production process and supply of clean water from sources to customer Contributing to the protection of public health, reduction of water-related diseases, prevention of epidemic diseases and socio-economic development Contributing to reduction of the rate of loss, saving of water sources and environmental protection. In addition, the Circular describes in detail the content of safe water supply plan by particularly actions, which can be found in reference number [24] Based on the guideline from Circular, many big cities have approved their own Safe Water Supply Plan. For example The Ha Noi People s Committee has recently issued Plan No. 148/KH-UBND on guaranteeing water supply and preventing loss of water in the city in the period of 2017 to 2020 [25]. In particular, Ha Noi will invest to speed up the progress of ongoing water projects and strive to complete them by They are projects on building Duong Noi Water Plant in Ha Dong district, with capacity of 30,000 cubic meters per day night (to be completed in 2017); project on increasing capacity of Bac Thang Long - Van Tri Water Plant to 150,000 cubic meters per day night, of which surface water 130,000 cubic meters per day night; project on building Red River surface water supply system, capacity of 300,000 cubic meters per day night; project on Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 30

33 building Duong River surface water supply system with capacity 300,000 cubic meters per day night, of which 240,000 cubic meters per day night for Ha Noi; project on building water supply system for Son Tay - Hoa Lac - Xuan Mai - Mieu Mon - Ha Noi - Ha Dong (second phase), with capacity of 600,000 cubic meters per day night. The city also aims to develop water supply network from concentrated water source of Ha Noi in accordance with construction and investment progress of water supply plants, thus meeting demand for water and water quality. Accordingly, Ha Noi will build water transmission line No. 2 to convey water from Da River, transmission line along National Road 32, National Road 21, National Road 21B, road connecting Phuc Tho and Chuc Son, and Ring Road 4; invest in water supply and distribution network for all communes using water from the city s concentrated water supply system, and pumping stations in Tay Mo, Soc Son, Xuan Mai, Phu Xuyen, Son Tay, Phuc Tho, Kim Bai, Chuc Son and Ba Vi. Furthermore, Ha Noi will develop rural water supply system from city s concentrated water source, striving to provide water to around 2,205,781 people in 235 communes (equivalent to 551,445 households); build local water supply model with modern technology to provide water to around 513,571 people (equivalent to 128,392 households) in disadvantaged areas in Soc Son, Ba Vi, My Duc, Ung Hoa, Chuong My, Thuong Tin and Phu Xuyen suburban districts, which are not connected to the city s concentrated water supply system yet; implement rural water supply projects with investment of the private sector, which are approved in principal by the Municipal People s Committee (20 projects on rural water supply, which will provide water to households in 75 communes); call for investment of the private sector in rural water supply network, which use water from city s concentrated water supply system. The public media on recent investment on water treatment plants can be found in references number [26], [27], [28]. In term of management, currently, the water quality parameters are well-monitored in treatment plant by SCADA system. However, after being pumped to the pipeline network, only the flowrate and pressure data have been measured by automatic sensors Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 31

34 and sending to the managers. The essential quality parameters such as ph, turbidity, residual chlorine etc. are not ignored. Therefore, in order to improve the service quality, the Vietnamese water utilities have to gradually invest their resources to address this issue Private investment With the rising concerns of people about the quality of public drinking water, more and more real estate and housing investors have equipped the in-situ treatment facilities to provide drinkable tap water for their resident such as EcoLife Capitol, The Golden Stars etc. These private investors have cooperated with international utilities (such as Watts Water Technologies for Golden Stars) to apply advanced technologies, mainly UF, RO (Figure 19) Figure 19: UF water treatment facilities at The Green Stars Residence, District 7 HCM city (Source: Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 32

35 Over the years, the water sector has consistently received the attention of domestic and foreign businesses, as well as investment funds. In that context, Decision 1232/QD- TTg issued on August 17, 2017 announced the list of state capital outflows by 2020, which opened up a great opportunity to control and dominate the water sector. According to this decision, in 3 years, from 2017 to 2019, the government will proceed gradually divesting of 57 companies in the water supply and drainage sector, stretching from Hau Giang to Lang Son. Of these, 24 are sold with more than 50% of chartered capital, while the rest 33 companies will divest at a lower rate. The most notable feature of this portfolio is the sale of a 98% stake in Vietnam Water and Environmental Investment Corporation (Viwaseen). It is one of the leading consulting and constructing companies in the field of water supply and drainage infrastructure construction. With the dominating ratio of 10 water supply and sewerage construction companies, including Waseco Water Supply and Sewerage Construction and Investment (Waseco), owning Viwaseen will provide the opportunity to dominate the construction segment. Water infrastructure in the two largest cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, there are 47 companies operating in the water supply and drainage sector. Their existing pipeline system will facilitate the transfer of water, cost savings and the ability to successfully gain market share for future acquirers. Accordingly, 10 clean water companies on the list of divestments in key provinces such as Bac Giang, Hai Duong, Hoa Binh, Ninh Binh and Vinh Phuc are big opportunities for clean water businesses. [29]. Estimated investment demand for urban water supply in Vietnam in the period is 72,000 billion VND, equivalent to 3.3 billion USD. According to the Department of Technical Infrastructure, the next phase, investments will focus on works such as raw water pipelines, transmission pipelines, transport pipelines and distribution pipelines. Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 33

36 In the coming time, the Ministry of Construction will support the implementation of PPP projects in the field of water supply, drainage and solid waste treatment in urban areas. One of the issues that needs to be resolved in the short term is to establish adequate mechanisms for the PPP project in this area and to have a suitable counterpart fund to contribute to the state budget portion of the PPP project. In the context of limited ODA and government budget, in order to meet the demand for investment capital for development of water supply, the target of mobilizing private capital, domestic and foreign enterprises is the main source of capital. investment and development of water supply [30]. Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 34

37 REFERENCES [1] Finance-into-Service-for-the-Future.pdf [2] am_2011.pdf [3] NGAY Model.jpg [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] 05.pdf. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]. [19] [20] [21] [22]. PHAP-KIEM-SOAT-MAN--TRU-NUOC-NGOT-DE-PHUC-VU-SAN-XUAT-VA- DAN-SINH-VUNG-DBSCL.aspx [23]. [24] [25] [26] [27] Part 1: Drinking water sector in Vietnam Page 35