VietNam Society: water

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Friday, January 28, 2011

Clean water proves success of aid

Photo shows the water treatment system of Dung Quat Water Factory in Binh Tri Comune, Binh Son District in central Quang Ngai Province. The ouput-based aid approach ia said to be working in the mobilisation of capital for rural water programmes. —VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Long

HA NOI — The output-based aid approach was an innovative way to mobilise capital from enterprises and individual households to invest in rural water programmes, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dao Xuan Hoc.

The output-based aid (OBA) approach, or performance-based aid, is a development aid strategy that ties the disbursement of public funding to the achievement of clearly specified results. It was first used in Viet Nam in November 2007 with projects aimed at enhancing rural water systems in the Central Region and Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.

According to Nguyen Minh Chau, country director of the East Meets West Foundation which piloted the mechanism, to ensure that quality water systems are implemented, recipients are reimbursed 80 per cent of their initial outlay once the infrastructure is in place and the remaining 20 per cent after six months if it works properly.

Chau said the organisation would only provide funds to enterprises that failed to meet standards after proposing the construction of water plants, distribution pipelines, household connections, water metres and water pressures.

In 10 months, 24 businesses in the Mekong Delta's Tien Giang Province, where the project was piloted, were involved in providing water to 7,304 households, consisting of 29,320 individuals, said vice director of Water Resources Department Tran Dinh Hoang.

The total reimbursment was about VND13.5 billion (US$6.75 million), 80 per cent of which had already been disbursed. The local people contributed VND3.8 billion ($190,000).

Hoang recommended that due to the enterprises' limited financial capacity, it would be better to reimburse them earlier so they could repay their debts and reclaim ownership of their land.

Nguyen Van Kha, director of An Thien Company, said the OBA project had been implemented for nearly six months, the biggest challenge was the timing of reimbursements — it took nine months for the company to receive the full reimbursement.

To date, the OBA project has provided 21,000 households and 10,000 sanitation plants access to clean water. — VNS

Monday, January 24, 2011

Too many wells give HCM City sinking feeling

Nguyen Huu Canh Street in Binh Thanh District suffers from heavy flooding due to tidal surges. Bigger tides, along with land sinkages blamed on the falling water table, are expected to cause more severe flooding in the city. —VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai

HCM CITY — HCMC is considering plans to improve the management of private artesian water bores as overexploitation of underground water sources is causing land to sink in many of the city's districts.

The land sinkage has been blamed on falling artesian water levels and land that is too unstable for the current rate of development.

"The overexploitation of underground water has been a large cause of land sinkage," Le Van Trung, director of the Geomatics Centre of the National University- HCM City, said.

Land in parts of districts 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, Binh Thanh, Thu Duc, Binh Chanh and Hoc Mon has sunk 10-15mm a year. The sinkage levels are expected to get much worse in District 9, Binh Chanh, Thu Duc, Hoc Mon and Binh Thanh districts by 2020.

Trung told a meeting of the HCM City People's Committee earlier this week that there were three main causes for the problem – unstable land, the construction of projects on unstable land, and the decline of underground water levels.

The combination of higher rainfall levels, bigger tides and land sinkage was a recipe for more severe flooding in future, Trung said.

The flooding of 79 out of the 116 roads had been exascerbated by lowering land levels, he said.

Deputy chairman of the HCM City People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Tai said the management of artesian water sources in the city was too lax and needed tightening.

Tai ordered the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to do an area-by-area assessment of the use of artesian water and organise a seminar on the impacts of water bores on land stability.

The People's Committee would use the data to map out areas where water bores and construction would be restricted.

The city would also increase inspections of artesian water bores and penalise anyone illegally exploiting underground water resources, Tai said.

The department has set a cap of 832,000cu.m a day of pumped bore water. Records show that 582,000cu.m a day was pumped in 2008.

Nguyen Ngoc Hong, deputy director of the department, said the real volume of underground water that was being pumped could be a third as much again.

In several industrial parks which have tap water, many companies illegally exploit underground water for production, especially companies that use a lot of water like leather tanners and textile and dye companies, according to the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority. — VNS

Monday, January 17, 2011

Drought forecast in northern, southern deltas

Water for farms in the northern and the Mekong deltas would be rationed to handle possible droughts, according to recent instructions from Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The monsoon season has passed and flooding will subside in the next few months but the water levels in the Hong (Red) River and Thai Binh River are much lower than usual.

The National Hydrometeor-ological Forecast Centre forecast rainfall in December and the first few months of 2011 would drop to well below the average level of previous years.

The drought is threatening a large area and there is a severe shortage of water and power for agricultural work and living purposes.

Dung asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Electricity of Vietnam to carry out the plan to provide electricity and release reservoir water at intervals agreed with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

MARD would then provide a detailed plan for localities under which they would be instructed to use water economically and rotate their crops accordingly.

The ministry urged construction authorities to speed up work on hydro-electric plants so they could be put into operation quickly while also recommending that provinces should take the opportunity to collect water whenever it rained.

The centre forecast a cold front moving south this week that would bring rain to northern provinces and the northern part of the central regions.

Coastal areas in the north and central areas would also experience strong winds and rough seas./.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Comedian Xuan Bac becomes goodwill ambassador

HA NOI — Comedian Nguyen Xuan Bac was officially announced yesterday as the 2010-11 goodwill ambassador for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation, said Dao Xuan Hoc, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Bac was invited to play the role of an ambassador by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Lien Aid and UNICEF.

As a goodwill ambassador, Bac, 34 is expected to participate in on-site activities and to be a guest of honour at public and mass media events in order to deliver messages designed to raise public awareness about using clean water and hygienic latrines, and to help change human behaviours around water safety in rural areas.

Bac promised to send messages from the Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Sector widely and effectively to people in rural areas, with a particular focus on children.

More than 20,000 people, most of them children, die each year due to unclean water and poor sanitation in Viet Nam. Almost half of those deaths can be attributed to diarrhoea, the World Health Organisation reported.

Viet Nam has plans to provide clean water to about 83-85 per cent of rural households and build hygienic latrines in 60 per cent of rural households by the end of the year. — VNS

Monday, January 10, 2011

OBA water supplies in rural areas discussed

A seminar on investment and the management of OBA projects which focus on clean water and hygiene in rural areas in the Mekong Delta region was held in Tien Giang province on November 29.

At the seminar, the participants, including staff from water supply systems, officials from various ministries and agencies, donors and the representatives of non-government organisations, shared their experiences in putting into action water supply projects using a newly-applied model known as OBA (outcomes-based technical assistance) which was launched by the East Meets West (EMW) Foundation.

The participants also had the chance to explore Tieng Giang province’s regulations and policies on private investment and management in rural areas and held a discussion on OBA models in several provinces such as Dong Thap, Long An, Tien Giang and An Giang.

Environmental programmes were also put on the table for discussion at the meeting, thus helping improve the effectiveness of water supply projects.

The EMW, a US non-government organisation, has helped private businesses in the central region to carry out over 150 small-scale works to supply fresh water to a number of rural areas, that benefit nearly 230,000 residents.

Since 2007, the organisation has applied a new model outcomes-based assistance and used it throughout the Mekong Delta region, particularly Tien Giang province. The organisation has also supported 24 private businesses to provide clean water for 8,700 households./.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Major clean water project launched in central region

Workers operate a clean water treatment system for residents in the flood-hit Le Thuy District in central Quang Binh Province. The Clean Water and Rural Environment Sanitation Centre has launched a clean water project in six central provinces. — VNA/VNS Photo Ngoc Chau

HA NOI — A project to provide clean water and improve rural sanitation in six central provinces was launched yesterday.

Le Thieu Son, director of the Clean Water and Rural Environment Sanitation Centre, said the project would supply clean water and improve sanitary conditions for 350,000 residents in 30 communes in six central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam and Binh Dinh.

These provinces, which are prone to natural disasters, have limited water resources and high levels of poverty.

Sixty-five per cent of the population in Thanh Hoa Province have access to clean water, while in Ha Tinh Province, it is 63.7 per cent.

The programme aims to raise people's awareness and understanding of clean water usage and sanitation, while increasing people's involvement in managing infrastructure projects, said Son.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dao Xuan Hoc said the project will help farmers and provide a model for other localities to follow.

This is the largest clean water and rural sanitation project, which is funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to be carried out in the country.

The US$50 million project will be implemented in six years. ADB's Official Development Capital will provide 90 per cent of funds for the project.

ADB representative Paul Van Klanveren, who is managing the project in Viet Nam, affirmed that the project would help improve farmers' lives and contribute to the country's sustainable, socio-economic development.

The centre's deputy director Nguyen Thanh Luan said that since the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation was launched in 1999, the number of rural residents with access to clean water rose from 32 per cent to 83 per cent.

By the end of the year, officials hope that 70 per cent of rural households will have latrines, said Luan. — VNS

Saturday, January 1, 2011

ADB funds safe water project for central VN

Some 350,000 rural workers in six provinces, mostly in the parched central region, will have access to safe water supply thanks to a project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

At a seminar to launch the project in Hanoi on November 17, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Dao Xuan Hoc said the project was of primary significance to locals in the central region, where the rate of safe water users in its population is lower than the national average. The region is also prone to natural disasters, suffers saline water sources and is hit by high poverty rates.

Hoc added the Government has issued a number of incentive policies to encourage private investors to invest in safe water supply along with foreign assistance in order to increase the number of safe water beneficiaries.

Paul Van Klanveren, a representative from ADB in charge of the project in Vietnam said it is the first project on safe water supply and environmental hygiene that his employer has ever funded in the central region. He expected that the project would not only bring in more equality to people in disadvantaged areas but also help Vietnam sustain its socio-economic development.

The project will run until 2017 with investment totalling 50 million USD, of which ADB provides 45 million USD in credits and the rest is contributed by Vietnam.

MARD reported that the national target programme on rural safe water supply and environmental hygiene has helped up to 79 percent of the national population to access safe water supply and 54 percent of families build standard latrines.

The nation, however, is still coping with a number of challenges in this regard./.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

France helps Nam Dinh’s water works

A French National Assembly member for Hauts-de-Seine province has pledged continued financial assistance to the northern province of Nam Dinh to carry out water works and environmental hygiene.

At a working session in the province on Nov. 15, Andre Santini, who is President of A Public Drinking Water Service for the Greater Metropolitan Paris Area (SEDIF), told Nam Dinh authorities that he was happy at bilateral cooperation over the recent past.

Vice Chairman of the Nam Dinh Provincial People’s Committee Doan Hong Phong highly valued works of a SEDIF-financed solidarity fund establishment project for Nam Dinh water sector.

This is a humanitarian project which not only directly benefits people where the project is carried out but also helps alleviate hunger and reduce poverty for provincial people in difficult regions, Phong said.

The project has been carried out under a document to implement a framework agreement signed between SEDIF and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s National Centre for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Hygiene on June 26, 1998.

It is intended to improve the social and medical conditions for rural people through supplying safe water for their daily use, disseminating environmental hygiene information in the community and establishing a solidarity fund of the provincial water sector by using 8-10 percent of water plants’ turnover to invest in small projects in the field.

Since the project was carried out in 1998 in Nam Dinh province, 10 water works with a combined capacity of more than 8,500 cu.m of water per day have been built with almost 15 billion VND, of which 5.5 billion VND sourced from SEDIF. Seven out of 10 works have been upgraded with an investment of around 5.8 billion VND.

In addition, SEDIF provides a funding of more than 105,000 EUR to a water supply service assistance project in Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh provinces.

Also on Nov. 15, SEDIF delegation toured Ninh Binh province to inspect water and hygiene projects.

Founded in 1923, SEDIF has been implementing 141 projects that benefit around 1.6 million people in almost 20 Asian and African nations. In Vietnam, SEDIF has funded seven projects, worth more than 1 million EUR, that benefit almost 164,000 people./.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Drought likely to hit rice crop

Insufficient rainfall is likely to affect the winter-spring rice crops across the country, the National Hydro and Meteorological Forecasting Centre said on Nov. 10.

Water levels in rivers in the north-central provinces would be less than last year's average levels by about 30 percent. Those in the country's south-central and Central Highland provinces would be about 60 percent less than last year's averages, said centre head Bui Minh Tang.

"Drought and water shortages will spread extensively," said Tang. "Southern provinces will probably have to deal with salt water intrusions."

The Red River's water level stabilised at 2.85m last month, said irrigation expert Dang Duy Hien.

The river's average was usually about 2.91m.

If the drought continued, about 650,000ha of winter-spring rice crops in the northern delta might be ruined, he added.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had asked northern provinces to reorganise their crops according to climate forecasts and recommended farmers plant dry crops such as corn or cashews, among others, that need little irrigation, said Deputy Minister Bui Ba Bong.

"We should sow up to 60 percent of land as soon as possible to avoid drought and salt intrusion early next year," Bong said.

Vu Van Thang, head of the Irrigation Department, said provinces should develop drought mitigation plans as soon as possible and dredge canals and culverts to ensure irrigation of every field.

"Additional pumps should be available when river levels drop too low," he said.

The Department of Cultivation head Pham Dong Quang said provinces had been asked to save irrigation water for next year./.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Aquatic plants to help clean lakes

Ha Noi's Thien Quang Lake. Aquatic plants that can absorb organic substances and heavy metals may help the city reduce lake pollution. — VNA/VNS Photo Trong Duc

HA NOI — Ha Noi authorities plan to encourage the growth of water plants in the city's lakes to offset chronic pollution.

The biological approach to purifying the capital's lakes has received a positive response from the municipal People's Committee, said Professor Duong Duc Tien, director of the Biology Technology for Life Centre.

Tien and his team plan to build organic filter houses on the sides of the city's lakes. The proposal will be submitted to city leaders by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, bamboo rafts have been tested on a number of Ha Noi's most polluted lakes, such as Thanh Cong, Giam and Thien Quang, as a cost-effective alternative to expensive chemicals.

Mai Dinh Yen, a biology professor at Ha Noi National University, said official attitudes to lake pollution have changed.

"The acceptance of the idea in itself demonstrates local leaders' awareness of the problem and how best to tackle it. People used to think water plants tarnished the appearance of lakes," Yen said.

Aquatic plants such as reeds, hyacinth, evergreens and lettuce have very large roots, which can absorb organic substances and heavy metals dissolved in the water, Tien said.

Yen said the organic approach to tackling water pollution has been used throughout the world since the 1970s.

"That goes for developed countries such as Japan and Germany," he said.

Dr Tang Thi Chinh, head of the Environment Micro-organism Department at the Environment Technology Institute, also supported the use of aquatic plants to purify the city's lakes.

She said most of the lakes in Ha Noi and across the country were polluted by an excessive amounts of nitrates and phosphorus, which plants require to grow.

She also said the organic approach is also far cheaper than using expensive chemicals.

"Aquatic plants are in general very cheap. Some of them are wild and very popular in the countryside where water is polluted," Yen said.

"The Government can only afford to chemically treat two or three lakes. That money could be far more effectively spent on the biological method," Tien said.

He said it costs VND2,500 to purify 1 cubic metre of lake water using a chemical formula developed by Ha Noi scientists. It would therefore cost VND250 million (US$12,500) to purify a relatively small 100,000 cubic metre lake.

Both Tien and Yen also said that chemical treatment could harm biological ecosystems, as could dredging.

However, experts warn that aquatic plants, such as hyacinth, needed to be closely monitored so that they didn't overwhelm a lake and cut off sunlight to other water plants.

Yen also said that different plants were better suited to combating certain types of pollution.

"There's an urgent need for more scientific research on this," he said.

They also said that public awareness about the need to keep the city's lakes clean needed to be improved.

"If people throw litter or discharge sewage into lakes, there's no way to keep the water free of pollution," said Le Ha Vinh, a member of a residential association in Dong Da District's Nguyen Phuc Lai Street, close to Hoang Cau Lake.

Some 95 per cent of the 120 lakes in central Ha Noi are polluted, according to the Centre for Environment and Community Research.

Most of the lakes have a BOD5 (Five-day Biochemical Oxygen Demand) rating higher than the 15 milligrams per litre – the maximum considered safe.

Van Chuong, Giam, Linh Quang, Ngoc Khanh and Truc Bach have a BOD5 rating of 40-50 miligrammes per litre, due primarily to untreated sewage. — VNS

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Beauty queens call for water protection

Several world beauty queens attended a Miss Earth 2010 pageant gathering on October 19 in the southern coastal province of Khanh Hoa to promote water resource protection activities.

Attending the event were Miss Earth 2009 Larissa Ramos, Miss Earth 2008 Karla Paula Henry, Miss Phillippines Earth Kris Psyche O. Resus and Miss Vietnam World 2010 Luu Thi Diem Huong.

Diem Huong, Vietnam’s representative at Miss Earth contest this year sent out the message: “Join hands to prevent climate change”.

Miss Phillippines Earth Kris Psyche O.Resus said many countries in the world are facing serious water shortages, so protecting and using clean water reasonably are a global responsibility.

Vietnam will host the annual Miss Earth between Nov.4-Dec.4, which will celebrate its 10 th year this year.

Over 90 beauties from countries and territories worldwide will join in environmental protection activities and charity work in Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City, as part of the contest.

The winners will serve as the spokespersons for the Miss Earth Foundation, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other environmental organisations./.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Israel helps HCM City improve water management

Israel will help Ho Chi Minh City train experts and officials in water management along with sharing its experience, advanced technologies and solutions in the field.

A memorandum of understanding to this effect between the municipal people’s committee and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour of Israel was signed in Ho Chi Minh City on October 19.

Cooperation in water management will also include the organization of conferences, exhibitions, training courses and seminars in both HCM City – Vietnam’s biggest economic hub – and Israel .

Fact-finding trips in Israel will be organised for HCM City officials and experts working in the water sector, and business cooperation will be encouraged.

At the following reception for Israeli officials, Standing Deputy Chairman of the municipal people’s committee Nguyen Thanh Tai said the city had paid due attention to water management as it was one of the most fundamental issues.

Supplying sufficient water for 10 million people’s daily use and production was not only a matter of life but also an issue of security in the current context of global climate change, Tai said.

“Ho Chi Minh City is very interested in the successes, know-how, and experiences Israel has gained in managing its water resources effectively,” Tai said, admitting that his city was facing a shortage of clean water and infrastructural and technological facilities./.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Floods leave 21 dead or missing

Severe floods had left 21 dead and missing in the central provinces as of Oct. 17 while a tropical storm is forecast to hit East Sea on Oct. 18.

Most of the victims were swept away in flash floods while travelling in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, reported local authorities.

“The swift current and an immense sea of water on large area make it difficult for us to search for the missing,” said Nguyen Hong Ha, a local from Nghe An province’s Nghi Trung commune.

On Oct. 17, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the Finance Ministry to immediately provide 100 million VND each to Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces following Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai’s decision.

The PM also requested that the National Reserves Department allocate 1,000 tonnes of rice to each of the two provinces for timely restoration of the aftermaths of the floods.

A working group of the National Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control on Oct. 16 made a tour of Ha Tinh province to provide guidance on coping with the natural disasters.

Vietnam News Agency correspondents in the central provinces reported that waters continued to rise in these localities.

The three consecutive days of torrential rains that ended on Oct. 16 also flooded thousands houses in these provinces for the second time since the beginning of October, said the Flood and Storm Control Steering Committee.

In Quang Binh alone, 10,000 families were evacuated to safe places and some 40,000 houses remained flooded, nearly half of which were 1.5-2m deep in water, said the provincial People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Huu Hoai.

Heavy rains and flooding also blocked road and railway transport, isolating more than 100,000 houses in Ha Tinh province after its Mo and Khe Mung hydro-power dams were broken.

“Rain has resulted in landslides leaving 25 areas under thousands of cubic metres of soil and rocks and blocking transport on National Highway 8A,” said Nguyen Truong Tuong, director of 474 Road Management and Repair Company.

National Highway 1A was also 1m deep in water and many provincial roads remained many metres under water, preventing rescue team from reaching flooded house.

The north-south railway was suspended between Nghe An’s Vinh station and Quang Binh’s Dong Hoi station after many parts of the rails were washed away in the floods, said Nguyen Huu Tuyen, head of the Vietnam Railway’s Transport Business Department.

He couldn’t say when the section could reopen but workers would start fixing the rails as soon as water subsided.

Three north-south trains were cancelled on Oct. 17 while some 3,000 passengers who were stranded at those two stations on Oct. 16 continued their journey by bus.

Meanwhile, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting says storm Megi, the incoming tropical that formed in the Philippines, is travelling west at 20kph and is predicted to be 300km east of Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago by the morning of Oct. 20.

The previous floods in early October killed 66 people in the centre of Vietnam./.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Efficient lighting helps high-rises save energy

HCM CITY — Using effective lighting solutions in high-rise buildings can help save electricity and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, a seminar heard in HCM City on Friday.

Experts from Dutch electronics giant Philips said since multi-storied office buildings consume 30 – 40 per cent of the total power used in a typical city and lighting accounts for around 35 per cent of their power consumption, it is a significant opportunity to save power.

Nguyen Van Phuoc of the city's Department of Natural Resources and Environment said high-rises over the world account for around 33 per cent of all carbon dioxide emitted into the environment.

HCM City tests quality of groundwater

HCM CITY — The Department of Science and Technology is collecting 1,800 underground water samples in Go Vap District in HCM City to test for pollution level.

Based on the testing result, the department will propose measures to prevent pollution and limit the exploitation of underground water.

Underground water 50 metres beneath the ground surface is seriously polluted, especially in areas surrounding industrial parks and export processing zones in HCM City as well as Binh Hung Hoa Cemetery.

The excessive exploitation of underground water has also led to land-surface subsidence in many areas in District 6 and Binh Chanh and Thu Duc districts.

US firm launches ozone waste treatment plant

HCM CITY — The US-owned Green Life Corporation has launched an industrial wastewater treatment system that uses ozone.

It is designed and manufactured by its parent, Power Sanitation System Network (PSSN).

The CEO of PSSN, Duc Tran, underlined the importance of processing waste saying environmental degradation causes birth defects and serious diseases like cancer and hepatitis.

Italian NGO grants scholarships

DA NAng — An Italian non-governmental organisation, Care the People, granted 85 scholarships worth over VND93 million (US$4,770) to disadvantaged pupils and students in the central city of Da Nang yesterday.

The scholarships have been granted twice every year since 2003.

Since its launch, more than 800 students in the city have been granted scholarships worth over VND1 billion ($51,300). — VNS

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Fatal coach accident in northern province

QUANG NINH — A truck and a coach collided on Wednesday, killing the coach's driver on spot and injuring 10 passengers, on National Highway No 18A in Dam Ha District in Quang Ninh Province.

The crash was occurred after the truck's driver lost control of his vehicle. The injured were treated in Quang Ninh General Hospital.

Ship causes oil slick in Vung Ro Port

PHU YEN — Viet Tin 01 Ship caused an oil spill in Vung Ro Port in Phu Yen Province's Dong Hoa District on Wednesday, said Nguyen Dang Vu, a representative from Quy Nhon Port Authority.

The ship docked at the port to deliver oil to a fuel storehouse.

The incident happened after a malfunction occurred during the transfer of oil. The company's workers had cleaned up the spilled oil, said Vu.

13-month-old baby takes ecstasy tablet

HCM CITY — A 13-month-old boy was taken to HCM City's Hospital for Children No 2 on Wednesday after accidentally consuming half of an ecstasy tablet. The baby immediately went into an overactive state and began to suffer from a high temperature and dilated pupils.

The boy is now in normal condition.

His mother said he took the drug accidentally at an acquaintance's house who uses ecstasy.

Untreated waste water found next to IZ

BINH DUONG — Binh Duong Province's Environment Police found 1,000cu.m of untreated waste water in a rain-water drainage system that had been discharged from Dong An 1 Industrial Zone in Thuan An District on Wednesday.

Authorities took samples to test the water's pollution level.

The zone investor, Hung Thinh Joint Stocks Co, will submit a document about the presence of waste water in the rain drainage system.

Drunk father arrested for beating son

BAC GIANG — Nguyen Van Dong, 40, of Dong Phuc Commune, Yen Dung District in Bac Giang Province, was arrested on Wednesday for abusing his son.

Dong admitted to police that on September 21 he beat his son with sticks and rubber sandals.

Commune authorities warned Dong about his behaviour many times, but he kept abusing his son, usually when he was drunk. — VNS

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Central Highlands grapples with water shortage

The Central Highlands is experiencing a severe water shortage as rainfall in the region, which is Vietnam’s largest coffee growing area, has dropped by 40 percent since the start of the rainy season.

As a result, water levels in the area’s major rivers, including the Dong Nai, Se San and Serepook, have fallen below the average level recorded over the last few years by 0.5-1 m. In particular, the Ba River in Gia Lai province is lower by 1.5-1.8m.

Gia Lai province has reported that 23,200 ha of crops have been badly affected by the water shortage, with losses estimated at 40 billion VND.

In Kon Tum, the dry weather has emptied more than 200 reservoirs, which provided water for 8,000 ha of rice paddies, 13,000 ha of coffee plants and 11,000 ha of other crops.

“The Winter-Spring rice crop will be seriously affected by the water shortage,” said the Director from the Kon Tum Agriculture and Rural Development Department, Nguyen Huu Hai.

Pham Tien San, who is in charge of irrigation in Dak Lak province, said the current shortage of water could possibly cause a serious drought in the province.

Dak Lak province has a total of 500 reservoirs and needs to ensure sufficient supplies of water for 28,000 paddy fields and 180,000 ha of coffee plants.

The Tay Nguyen Hydro-meteorology Forecasting Bureau has predicted that the Central Highlands will face severe droughts next year due to a lack of rain./.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Water works makes waves

Ethnic minorities in Nhat Tien Commune, Bac Son District in northern Lang Son Province gain access to clean water. All localities will be equipped with water quality management units by 2020. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Tran

HA NOI — A newly-announced VND320 billion (US$16.4 million) programme will ensure that all of Viet Nam's cities and provinces will have water-quality-management units within five years.

And the units will be of international standard by 2020.

The Water Quality Management Programme is part of an effort to promote and sustain the achievements of the National Strategy for Clean Water and Environment Sanitation.

Purpose of the programme was to provide 85 per cent of rural residents with potable water by 2010, National Centre for Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation deputy director Nguyen Thanh Luan told a workshop to introduce and initiate its implementation in Ha Noi yesterday.

Just 18 of Viet Nam's 63 provinces had water-quality testing facilities, he said.

Most were newly-established, poorly equipped and had yet to meet appropriate standards.

Appropriate national and local mechanisms for the effective management of water and environmental sanitation; funds and the necessary construction were also missing.

Nine projects

The money for the programme would be disbursed through nine key projects so that all rural residents had access to potable water by 2020, said deputy director Luan.

The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry had made a variety of proposals to ensure the targets are met.

But priority would be given to the monitoring of all sources of rural water supply and increasing their standardisation from the prevailing 40 to 100 per cent by 2020.

The ministry would begin the building of eight trial standardised testing centres in different ecological regions next year.

Projects to enhance quality control and management capability in all cities and provinces would follow with information about water usage included in a data base as a comprehensive national source.

The programme would also research and trial the application of scientific and technologic methods in monitoring water quality at households in particular terrain or in special social and economic conditions, said Deputy Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry Dao Xuan Hoc.

International co-operation could work through various models including bilateral, multilateral and co-operation with non-government organisations, he said.

The ministry had asked the General Irrigation Department to take key responsibility for the programme's implementation and management.

The People's Committees of all the country's 63 cities and provinces were also responsible for managing their rural water quality.

United Nation Children's Fund, UNICEF, representative Craig Burgess emphasised the ministry's commitment to rural water quality and said he expected a sound implementation of the programme.

The ministry had realised the poor water quality in rural Viet Nam and taken the lead in the development and approval of the water quality management programme, he said.

But more important than the launch of the programme was how the ministry supported the sub-national effort and how each province, district, commune and individual went about improving water quality for all users, he said.

Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry figures show that only 30 per cent of rural water supply meets Health Ministry water-quality standards.

A 2006 Health Ministry survey found that water at only 15.6 per cent of rural households met its standards and of these only 29 per cent met the micro biological standards and 56.5 per cent the chemical standards.

UNICEF estimates that only 2.8 million out of 18 million rural children have access to Health Ministry-standard water.

The Northern and Central Highlands and the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta are the worse regions, it says. — VNS

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Power cuts loom as water levels at reservoirs decrease sharply

Water levels in many reservoirs have declined sharply compared to previous years, leading to possible electricity shortages.

Hoa Binh Reservoir, the biggest in the north, was at its lowest level for two decades.

The current water level stands at 99m, much lower than the reservoir's 117m capacity.

About 24.5 billion cubic meters of water flowed into the reservoir this year, 18.3 cubic meters less than the same period in previous years.

The National Hydro-meteorological Forecast Center warned that the total amount of water flowing into the reservoir during the remaining quarter of this year would reach 9.4 billion cubic meters.

The reservoir's water level is estimated to decrease by 22.5 billion cubic meters by the year's end.

This year's severe drought was to blame for the problem, said Hoa Binh hydroelectric plant director Nguyen Van Thanh.

There has been one small downpour this year. In the past, there were between five and eight, he said.

"Over the past 23 years of operation, this is the first time the plant hasn't had to open the sluice gate," Thanh said.

Other reservoirs also face the same problem, with many of their water levels reaching ‘death level' where turbines cease to safely function.

Son La Reservoir water level stands at 162m, 13m lower than the death level.

The water levels of Dai Ninh Reservoir in central Quang Nam Province, Ham Thuan Reservoir in central Binh Thuan Province and Tri An Reservoir in southern Dong Nai Province stand at just 0.2 m, 0.1m and 0.13m higher than death level, respectively.

Meanwhile, the monsoon season was set to end, worsening the water shortage situation, said deputy director of the center Nguyen Lan Chau.

"Rains are forecast in the next few months, however the expected 20-30mm of rainfall will not be enough to make up for the water shortages," she said.

Low water levels may lead to electricity shortages.

CEO of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) Dao Van Hung said the company's electricity supply would be 5-10 per cent lower than demand as a result of the droughts.

The Hoa Binh hydropower plant annually generated more than 10 billion kWh and this year intended to generate 8.5 billion kWh but the target might be decreased due to water shortages, he said.

The plant generated 42 million kWh per day in 2009, but the figure had dropped to 32 million kWh a day this year.

The plant's director Thanh said electricity generation was limited due to water shortages while the Hoa Binh Reservoir had to start to reserve water for electricity generation during the approaching dry season.

The low water level at the Hoa Binh Reservoir would affect the construction of Turbine No 2 at the Son La hydropower plant, meaning that the power's electricity generation would slow, according to EVN deputy director general Vu Duc Thin.

The water level needed to measure 113m to be able to transport the equipment, but the present level was 99m, he said.

All 17 key EVN reservoirs faced water shortages while hydroelectricity accounted for 6,500MW of the company's total electricity generation capacity of 16,000-17,000MW, causing difficulties for electricity generation which would continue well into next year, CEO Hung said.

The company planned to propose the Ministry of Industry and Trade to map out plans to avoid rolling power cuts, he said.

"Cement and steel production plants, which consume large amounts of electricity, will be required to change their production plans to save electricity," he said.

Other power sources such as thermo-electricity would be maximized to help make up for the electricity shortages, he added.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

New waterworks begin supplying City districts

HCM CITY — The Thu Duc waterworks began operation on Monday, five years after its construction began, supplying 300,000 cubic metres of water daily to several districts in HCM City.

Thu Duc Water B.O.O (Build-Own-Operate) Corporation, the investor, has also built the 315,000 - cubic metre Hoa An water pumping station in southern Dong Nai Province and laid pipes between Thu Duc and Nha Be Districts.

The waterworks cost more than VND1.7 trillion (US$87.6 million) which was brought in by the company and loans from the Viet Nam Development Bank.

Its output is being bought by the Sai Gon Water Supply Corporation (SAWACO) for supply to Districts 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and Nha Be.

SAWACO will also supply Thu Duc, Binh Thanh, and Go Vap Districts when it links the pipelines in both places.

Nguyen Thanh Tai, deputy head of the city People's Committee, said the plant will enable the city to supply clean water to places that are now lacking, helping improve the quality of life for residents there.

Thu Duc Water B.O.O Corporation is a joint venture between Water&Environment Joint Stock Company, HCM City Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company, Construction Corporation No.1, HCM City Investment Fund for Urban Development, Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp and Thu Duc Housing Development Joint Stock Company. — VNS

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Power projects hit by drought

Many small and medium hydropower plants in the Central Highlands do not have enough water to operate efficiently although the rainy season is about to end.

Most hydroelectric companies in Dak Lak complain production has reached only about half of their targets because of the drought-like weather conditions.

Some small plants had to shut down temporarily to accumulate enough water, they said.

There are four hydropower plants on the Serepok River - the Buon Tu Srah Hydropower Plant with a 520 million cubic metres reservoir in Lak District; the Buon Kuop Hydropower Plant in Dak Lak Province's Krong No District; Dray H'Linh, Serepok 3 Plants in Dak Nong Province's Cu Dut District and Serepok 4 in Buon Don District, Dak Lak.

Tran Van Khanh, director of the Buon Kuop Hydropower Company which operates the Buon Tu Srah and Serepok 3 plants, said the extended drought resulted in record low water levels in the Serepok River. He said the Buon Tu Srah Dam, whose reservoir can hold 520 million cu.m of water, had just around 60 million cu.m water.

This was the lowest since the plant was inaugurated in September 2009. Inadequate water in the Buon Tu Srah Reservoir has caused downstream hydropower plants to operate perfunctorily because upstream reservoirs have to accumulate water, he said.

Khanh said the State had assigned his company to provide 1.28 billion kWh of power this year, but it has only been able to produce 480 million kWh, about 38 percent of the year's plan.

"Compared with the same time last year, this is a record low water level. The rainy season in the Central Highlands often ends in November, but there is not enough water to operate the plants even now. With this situation, I am afraid the company will not reach 50 percent of the target," Khanh said.

An official who works at the Buon Tu Srah Reservoir said last Friday that the dam could not accumulate enough water and the plant had to stay idle at daytime.

The Krong No River in Dak Nong Province is no longer fierce and deep as it used to be, and a drop of several dozen meters in water levels in the dam is clearly visible.

Ho Van Bay, deputy secretary of Duc Xuyen Commune's People's Committee, said water levels in streams that linked to the Krong No River were so low that people could walk to the other side.

Nguyen Van Than, director of the Dak Lak Electricity Company, predicted that the situation would worsen in the coming months.

Water levels at the Ialy Hydropower Plant on the Se San River in Gia Lai and Kon Tum Provinces have also been reported at critically low levels and output capacity of the dam is said to be at 50 percent.

Ta Van Luan, director of Ialy Hydropower Company, said the company's production in the first eight months of this year has reached 50 percent of that assigned by the Vietnam Electricity Corporation./.

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