Nghe An fined many businesses that illegally extracted groundwater. In the coming time, it will continue to inspect the use of groundwater by businesses in the area.

5 businesses were fined

In Quy Hop district (old), in June 2025,Department of Agriculture and EnvironmentDetected 3 enterprises violating regulations in exploiting and using water resources.

Specifically: Song Dinh Mineral Exploitation and Processing Company Limited exploited and used underground water for production and business activities with a flow rate of 50mm.³/day and night.

Hong Bao Ngoc Company Limited has the act of exploiting and using underground water for production and business activities with a flow rate of 15m³/day and night.

Lam Hong Trading and Transport Services Company Limited has built septic tanks to treat domestic wastewater, built ditches to drain overflowing rainwater, but has not built a common settling pit to collect overflowing rainwater and treat domestic wastewater.

For the above violations, all 3 enterprises were administratively sanctioned by the People's Committee of Quy Hop District (old) according to the provisions of law. Of which, Hong Bao Ngoc Company Limited was fined a total of 15,180,000 VND; Song Dinh Mineral Exploitation and Processing Company Limited was fined a total of 50,600,000 VND; Lam Hong Trading and Transport Services Company Limited was fined a total of 70,000,000 VND.

Participating in the inspection, Mr. Nguyen Van Linh - an officer of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quy Hop district (formerly) said that mineral processing factories in industrial clusters in the area all need to use water sources in production activities. However, due to lack of legal knowledge, they violated legal regulations, leading to being fined. "The violations that led to being fined were because the enterprise did not file a request for a license to exploit groundwater, or had a license to exploit groundwater but it had expired and did not complete the renewal procedures...", Mr. Nguyen Van Linh specifically stated the violations.

Learning more in other localities, it is known that on April 2, 2025, the Department of Agriculture and Environment also discovered and proposed the People's Committee of Anh Son district (old) to impose administrative sanctions on the compliance with the law on water resources of Song Lam Sugarcane Joint Stock Company.

The company was then administratively fined VND109,600,000.

In Dien Chau district (old), in May 2025, Bach Ngoc Lam Joint Stock Company was also fined 70,540,000 VND for administrative violations in the field of water resources. The reason is that this company exploited and used underground water resources for production and service business activities with a flow rate of 100m3/day and night to less than 200m3/day and night without registration and without a license as prescribed. It is known that this company's license has expired but the company has not renewed or re-issued the license as prescribed.

Will continue to check and correct

According to Mr. Le Quang Huy - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the exploitation and use of water resources have been clearly regulated in the Law on Water Resources No. 28/2023/QH15; Decree No. 53/2024/ND-CP dated May 16, 2024 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Water Resources; Decree No. 54/2024/ND-CP dated May 16, 2024 regulating the practice of underground water drilling, declaration, registration, licensing, water resources services and fees for granting the right to exploit water resources and related legal regulations.

On May 26, 2025, the Department of Water Resources Management (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) also issued Official Dispatch No. 780/TNN-BTB requesting localities nationwide to urge organizations and individuals to register and grant licenses for water resource exploitation. In order to improve the effectiveness of water resource management, exploitation, use, water resource protection, prevention and control of water pollution, degradation and depletion, on May 28, 2025, the Department of Agriculture and Environment issued Official Dispatch No. 3208/SNNMT-KS on compliance with the law on water resources to the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns in the province.

In Official Dispatch No. 3208/SNNMT-KS, the Department of Agriculture and Environment requested organizations and individuals engaged in the exploitation and use of water resources (surface water, underground water, seawater) to fully comply with the procedures for declaration, registration or licensing in accordance with the provisions of the law on water resources. In cases where a license for water resource exploitation has been granted, if there is a need to continue exploiting water resources, an application for extension must be submitted to the Provincial Public Administration Service Center for consideration and appraisal.

In addition, organizations and individuals are reminded that in the process of exploiting and using water resources, they must ensure the correct purpose, location, flow, time and other conditions stated in the license; install monitoring equipment to monitor the flow of water resource exploitation and use according to regulations; declare and pay fees for granting the right to exploit water resources; implement a periodic reporting regime on the situation of exploiting and using water resources to competent State management agencies; implement measures to prevent and respond to water pollution incidents; do not exploit underground water beyond the permitted threshold, causing a decrease in the underground water level or land subsidence...

“Since the Law on Water Resources No. 28/2023/QH15 came into effect, the Department has focused on propaganda work so that relevant organizations and individuals know and comply. Therefore, in the past time, the Department of Agriculture and Environment has presided over and coordinated with a number of local authorities at the district level (old) to organize, inspect and detect and handle violations of a number of organizations exploiting and using water resources in violation of regulations. In the coming time, the Department will coordinate with the authorities of newly established wards and communes to continue the inspection work. Affirming that all acts of violating the law on water resources will be strictly handled according to regulations…”, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment Le Quang Huy emphasized.