Protecting water resources - the responsibility of the whole society

(Baonghean.vn) - Editor's note: Water is a precious resource, essential to all life on Earth. Therefore, the protection, exploitation and rational use of water resources always receive due attention. On the occasion of World Water Day 2015, Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Mr. Vo Van Ngoc - Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, to help readers better understand the current situation and what needs to be done to protect and preserve water resources...

Students of Yen Tinh Secondary School (Tuong Duong) next to a clean water tank in the dormitory. Photo: Tran Hai

PV:Dear Comrade Vo Van Ngoc, it is known that this year our province will organize activities in response to World Water Day 2015 with the theme "Water and Sustainable Development". So can you tell us the purpose and significance of these activities?

Comrade Vo Van Ngoc:For a long time, on March 22 every year, countries around the world and Vietnam have organized activities to celebrate World Water Day, to call for the attention of the whole society on the importance of water resources and to advocate policies on sustainable management of water resources, especially freshwater resources. World Water Day 2015 has the theme "Water and Sustainable Development", with the aim of calling for the protection of water resources in river basins that are being overexploited due to the pressure of socio-economic development and are increasingly degrading in both quality and quantity. It can be said that the issue of sustainable development is becoming more urgent than ever, requiring a global strategy, in which water resources play a key and inseparable role...

Mining affects the water environment. Photo: NL

PV:The theme "Water and Sustainable Development" and the purpose and significance of celebrating World Water Day 2015 have particularly emphasized the issue of degradation in quality and quantity of water resources. So how do you assess the current state of water resources in Nghe An province?

Comrade Vo Van Ngoc:In Nghe An province, agriculture is the sector that exploits and uses the most water, accounting for about 78.7% of the total water exploited by economic sectors, followed by domestic water with 10.8%, livestock with 5.8%, aquaculture with about 3.3%, and the mining industry with a rate of about 1.2%...

Regarding reserves, the total annual water volume per capita in the province is about 7,581 m3/person/year (lower than the national average of 9,856 m3/person/year, higher than the world average of 4,000 m3/person/year) and is classified as not stressed in terms of water resources.

However, in reality, water shortages for daily life and production still often occur due to uneven distribution of water flow in both space and time. The main causes of this situation are the impact of climate change, which changes the flow volume between seasons, increasing in the rainy season and decreasing in the dry season; production and socio-economic activities such as the practice of burning forests for slash-and-burn farming, changing the purpose of forest land use for mineral exploitation activities, and building reservoir systems for electricity production, which reduce the vegetation cover of the headwaters, affecting the flow; and flow regulation in the exploitation and use of water resources that does not ensure the prescribed process.

Burning forests to make fields affects water resources.

Regarding the quality of water resources in Nghe An province, according to annual monitoring results, although it still ensures the purposes of use, there is a decline in water quality, focusing on areas with industrial production activities.

The main cause of the decline in water quality is the leaching of soil and rock from the upstream area, areas with agricultural, forestry and mineral exploitation activities in the upstream area, in the districts of Que Phong, Quy Hop, Ky Son, Tuong Duong, ...; notably the exploitation and processing of ores, placer gold, river sand and gravel and paving stones. Industrial zones, clusters, craft villages and urban areas lack centralized wastewater treatment systems to ensure quality treatment before discharging into receiving sources, commonly the types of activities that generate large amounts of wastewater such as beer production, livestock farms, and seafood processing concentrated in the districts of Thanh Chuong, Dien Chau, Nghi Loc, Vinh City, ...

Waste generated from daily life and production has not been thoroughly collected and sent to the treatment area. There is still a situation of throwing waste into water sources or around water sources, causing pollution, especially for water sources used for the purpose of producing domestic water; this situation occurs in almost all localities in the province. Underground water sources are easily polluted because people drill wells for exploitation but do not properly fill the wells, leading to dirt entering the water source; the phenomenon of saltwater intrusion deep into the river due to rising sea levels in the dry season affects the exploitation and use of water sources for production and business activities...

In fact, human activities in socio-economic development have more or less impacts on the quality and quantity of water resources. Therefore, the risk of decline in reserves and quality is inevitable if we do not have measures to protect, exploit, and use this resource economically and effectively.

PV:Since 1998, our country has had the Law on Water Resources; in 2012, the National Assembly continued to adjust and amend a number of provisions of the 1998 Law on Water Resources. That affirms that in our country, water resources are highly valued. However, with the current situation, it is clear that compliance with the provisions of the Law on Water Resources is still not as desired. To create positive changes, what needs to be done, comrade?

Comrade Vo Van Ngoc:The 2012 Law on Water Resources was promulgated to replace the 1998 Law on Water Resources, which fully regulates the following contents: basic investigation; strategy development and planning of water resources; protection of water resources; exploitation and use of water resources, discharge of wastewater into water sources; regulation, distribution and prevention of harmful effects caused by water; responsibility for management and inspection of water resources; policies on water resources, and prohibited acts in activities related to water resources. All provisions of the law aim to protect and sustainably develop water resources and organizations and individuals must have correct awareness and strictly comply with the provisions of the law.

Gold mining affects water resources

In recent times, the Provincial People's Committee has taken drastic action to thoroughly handle establishments causing environmental pollution such as pig farms, cassava starch production, beer production, etc.; handle illegal riverbed mining activities that obstruct the flow, erode riverbanks and affect water sources; invest in building centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban and industrial areas such as the domestic wastewater treatment system of Vinh City, Cua Lo Town and the wastewater treatment system of Bac Vinh Industrial Park, etc.

In addition, with the function of a specialized agency for state management of water resources, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has coordinated with relevant departments and branches to advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue and organize the implementation of many legal documents on water resources; organized many training sessions on legal documents on water resources for officials working in state management of water resources of the People's Committees at district and commune levels, relevant departments and branches, people and businesses; activities in response to World Water Day (March 22) in the form of seminars, hanging banners and slogans on main roads, agency headquarters and densely populated areas, coordinating with press and radio agencies to develop topics and reports on water resources... have become annual activities.

Inspection and examination work in the field of water resources has been carried out regularly (from 2004 to present, 490 organizations and individuals have been inspected); receiving, appraising, advising on the issuance of 438 water resources operation licenses, of which 328 licenses are still valid; advising the Provincial People's Committee and organizing the investigation of the current status of exploitation, use of water resources, and discharge of wastewater into water sources in 11 out of 21 districts, cities and towns; investigating unused wells in the province; investigating and planning the allocation and protection of surface water resources in Nghe An province... Thereby, the awareness of compliance with the law on water resources protection of all people and organizations and enterprises in the area has been gradually raised. However, it must be recognized that in our province, there are still many organizations and individuals who lack awareness of protecting water resources.

To create positive changes, thereby protecting and sustainably developing water resources, the solution to be implemented in the coming time is to continue to strengthen the propaganda, dissemination and education of legal regulations on water resources to collectives, businesses and all classes of people; strictly inspect the compliance with the law for organizations and individuals in exploiting and using water resources, discharging wastewater into water sources, and strictly and promptly handling violations of the law on water resources. On this occasion, we would also like to remind that water is the source of life, but not an endless resource. Saving water resources is saving for the future. Therefore, protecting water resources is the responsibility of the whole society, each of us needs to join hands to protect this precious resource to ensure sustainable development for the future.

PV: Thank you for this interview!

Nhat Lan(perform)