Regulations on restricting groundwater exploitation

According to the Decree, restricted areas for groundwater exploitation (restricted areas) are classified into the following areas: Restricted Area 1; Restricted Area 2; Restricted Area 3; Restricted Area 4; Mixed restricted areas.
DelimitationRestricted Area 1is carried out for the following areas: 1- Areas where subsidence, land subsidence, and terrain deformation have occurred; 2- Areas with salinity, with total dissolved solids (TDS) content of 1,500 mg/l or more; 3- Areas with concentrated solid waste landfills according to the provisions of law on planning, construction, and environmental protection; 4- Areas with polluted underground water wells, causing adverse effects on human health and living organisms, and without technological solutions to ensure compliance with national technical standards on the quality of drinking and domestic water; 5- Areas with concentrated cemeteries or other areas at risk of polluting underground water sources as decided by the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities.

The measure to restrict exploitation in the above 5 areas is to stop all existing underground water exploitation activities (if any) and carry out treatment and filling of wells according to regulations.

DelimitationRestricted Area 2carried out for the following areas and aquifers: 1- Porous aquifers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and localities in the Red River Delta and Mekong River Delta; 2- For porous aquifers in localities not specified in 1, the Provincial People's Committee shall decide on the delimitation based on the scale, level of groundwater exploitation, level of groundwater level reduction and requirements for protecting groundwater resources in the area; 3- Aquifers in basalt in localities in the Central Highlands.

Based on the current status of the existing centralized water supply system diagram, including connection points, if residential areas and concentrated industrial zones fall into one of the following cases, they will be delimited:Restricted Area 3: Connected to the centralized water supply system, ensuring water usage needs in terms of time, flow and water quality suitable for the purpose of water usage; not yet connected but has an adjacent connection point of the centralized water supply system and is ready to supply clean water, ensuring water usage needs in terms of time, flow and water quality suitable for the purpose of water usage.

Measures to restrict exploitation in Restricted Areas 2 and 3 include not granting exploration and exploitation licenses to build new underground water exploitation projects.

Based on the results of the delimitation of restricted areas specified in Clause 2, Article 8 of this Decree, in case the residential area or concentrated industrial park is not in Restricted Area 3 but is not more than 1,000 m away from a river, stream, canal, ditch, or reservoir (surface water source) and that surface water source meets the following conditions, it shall be delimited into:Restricted Area 4: Has the function of supplying domestic water or is planned to supply domestic water; has a stable flow regime, minimum flow of 10 m3/s or more for rivers, streams, canals, ditches or a total capacity of 10 million m3 or more for reservoirs; has water quality that meets national technical standards on surface water quality of column A1 or higher.

To limit exploitation in Restricted Area 4, the State shall not grant exploration and exploitation licenses to build new underground water exploitation works with an exploitation scale of 10,000 m3/day or more, except for exploitation works to supply water for purposes of use as prescribed in Point c, Clause 3, Article 3 of this Decree.

Based on the synthesis of the results of delimiting restricted areas and areas according to the provisions of Restricted Areas 1, 2, 3, 4, in case there are overlapping restricted areas, the overlapping area will be delimited intoMixed Restricted Area.

The application of restrictive measures to the Mixed Restricted Area is decided on the basis of the corresponding restrictive exploitation measures for each area specified in Restricted Areas 1, 2, 3, 4 in the prescribed order.