Water sources, water supply works and clean water production, transmission and supply processes must be strictly and continuously monitored to ensure clean water provided for people's daily activities is the best and absolutely safe.
Free clean water was provided for residents in Hanoi last October as water supply to the area was found to be contaminated (Photo: VNA)
This is one of the contents of a directive issued late last month by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on strengthening management of clean water production and trading activities, ensuring safe and uninterrupted water supply.
In Directive 34/CT-TTg, the Prime Minister asked ministries, agencies and stakeholders to complete legal frameworks and adopt new models and new technologies to ensure sufficient clean water.
He emphasised the importance of clean water and urged ministries, agencies, organisations and individuals to improve awareness and take actions to protect water resources and supply works.
Besides legal framework improvement, he also called for research, new investment models and new technologies to manage, operate and monitor water production and supply.
He assigned the Ministry of Construction to develop a bill on clean water management next year.
The ministry was also asked to develop a project on State water management with the private sector offering more opportunities to invest in the water sector.
The participation of private investors in water production and supply projects is expected to solve the monopolies of water supply in some areas.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was asked to supervise clean water supply in rural areas and the safety of dams and reservoirs.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was told to review the implementation of Decree 43/2015/ND-CP on establishing and managing water resource protection corridors.
The environment ministry was told to work with other ministries and agencies to tighten inspections to find and punish those that harm resources that are used to produce clean water.
Water resource data will be collected and shared among ministries and agencies and information on water quality will also be shared to clean water production and supply companies.
According to the International Water Resources Associations, Vietnam is now in the group of countries that face a shortage of water with low average domestic water amount per head – only 3,840 cu.m per person per year while the global rate is 4,000 cu.m per person per year.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment estimates Vietnam’s average domestic water amount will halve by 2025.
Statistics from the environment ministry and health ministry show about 9,000 people in Vietnam die yearly because of poor hygiene and water resources and about 200,000 people have cancer relating to water pollution.
According to a study by the World Health Organisation, lack of clean water and an unhygienic environment caused 44 % of Vietnamese children to get worm infections and 27 % of children under five years old to suffer from malnutrition.
About 21 % of the country’s population uses arsenic-contaminated water.
Due to these figures, the WHO rated Vietnam as a country with alarming water resource security, especially in rural areas.
Population pressure, poor public awareness on the importance of using clean water, insufficient policies for water resource security as well as ineffective cooperation among agencies in managing and monitoring the water quality are blamed for the situation.