Department of Agriculture and Rural Development directs handling of abandoned self-flowing domestic water works in mountainous areas

(Baonghean) - Nghe An Newspaper on May 10, 2015 had an article: "Investing and using many self-flowing domestic water works in mountainous areas: Many works were abandoned". On June 12, 2015, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Official Dispatch No. 1327/SNN-KHTC to handle the issue raised by the newspaper, the content is as follows:

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has coordinated with the People's Committees of the districts: Quy Chau, Ky Son, Anh Son to inspect the actual works and report to the Provincial People's Committee as follows:

Construction investment results and current status of project management and use:

The self-flowing domestic water supply works in the three districts of Quy Chau, Ky Son and Anh Son are invested from many sources of capital: state budget, support from international organizations, non-governmental organizations... according to many different programs and projects, mainly Programs: 135/CP, CT 134/CP, settlement, new economy, NGO organizations..., most of the works were invested in construction and put into use before the year 2000. The main form of investment in the works is the form of self-flowing water supply, leading water to public tanks to supply water to residential areas. The main water source uses surface water from streams, supplying water to each village or many villages with a flow of 100 - 200m3/day and night.

According to the data compiled by the localities, in these 3 districts there are currently 212 self-flowing water supply works (Ky Son: 168 works, Quy Chau: 36 works and Anh Son: 8 works).

Regarding investment and current management status: Domestic water supply projects in the three districts of Quy Chau, Ky Son and Anh Son are mostly invested by the District People's Committee, a few projects are assigned to the Commune People's Committee to directly invest and implement. After completion, the project is handed over to the Commune People's Committee or other units (such as the Quy Chau District Irrigation Station) and the community for management and use. However, the management and use after investment still have many shortcomings, many projects have not been organized and managed in a systematic and correct manner: lacking regulations, rules, operating instructions, no costs for maintenance, repair and operation.

On the efficiency of the works:

Determining the operational status of the project is based on the criteria as guided in Decision No. 2570/QD.BNN.TCTL dated October 22, 2012 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Specifically, it is an assessment of the organization, personnel managing the operation and maintenance of the project (whether or not there is an organization for management and operation, training, guidance, etc.); operational efficiency (based on current capacity and design capacity); ensuring fees for management and operation; water loss; water supply and output water quality. Inactive projects are calculated when there are 3 consecutive months of no water supply. The sustainability and efficiency of the project are classified into 3 groups: Sustainable and effective projects; ineffective projects and inactive projects.

With the above evaluation criteria, through inspection and review of 212 projects in 3 districts of Quy Chau, Ky Son and Anh Son: there are currently 147 projects operating effectively (accounting for 69%); 44 projects operating ineffectively (accounting for 21%) and 21 projects stopped operating for at least 3 months (accounting for 10%).

Reasons why projects operate inefficiently, or do not operate at all

Objectively: - Self-flowing water works are built in mountainous areas with complex terrain, long pipelines passing through many streams, rocky mountains and far from residential areas, making them difficult to maintain and look after. In recent years, many extreme weather phenomena, flash floods and flash floods have occurred frequently, leading to many damaged works, especially dams and pipelines passing through streams;

- Self-flowing water supply projects use surface water sources, while surface water sources are increasingly declining, depleted, and of poor quality, while demand is increasing, leading to many projects not having enough water supply or only enough for a few residential areas, reducing the investment efficiency of the projects.

Subjectively: - Communication and community mobilization work has not been given attention during the project implementation process. The users' sense of responsibility for protection and contribution during the use and preservation of the project has not been created. The project implementation process only focuses on construction and installation work without focusing on implementing other activities such as: training and guiding the community on repair and maintenance of the project, guiding the organization of management, operation, construction and approval of usage regulations;

- The management and operation after construction investment has not been paid attention by local authorities and users in terms of management organization, training, guidance, provision of tools and equipment for field repairs, and initial support for a part of the cost for this work. Due to the lack of a management organization, project beneficiaries only know how to exploit and use, lacking awareness of protection and preservation. Initial small damages and incidents that were not promptly repaired have affected other items, and sometimes seriously degraded the whole project, even leading to "abandonment" as reported in the newspaper. Many projects have experienced the phenomenon of self-digging, dismantling and installing additional water pipes for different purposes, leading to water shortages at some points and residential areas;

- In the annual implementation plan, localities pay little attention to repairing and upgrading works, mostly focusing on investing in new construction. The quality of works from the initial survey stage to design, construction, supervision, acceptance and handover of works into use is not really strict, reducing the sustainability of the works.

Recommended treatment

The reflection of Nghe An Newspaper is true to the actual situation; the existing problems of domestic water works in the 3 districts mentioned above are the general situation of the system of rural domestic water works in mountainous districts. The assessment results according to the guidance of Circular 54/2013/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance, implemented by the Department of Finance and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, are as follows: Out of the total 490 works in the whole province that have been invested and put into use, there are currently 119 works operating inefficiently (accounting for 24%) and 111 works stopped operating (accounting for 23%).

To improve the efficiency of investment, management and use of self-flowing domestic water supply works in mountainous areas and overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings, in the immediate future, the People's Committees of districts are requested to direct functional departments and communes to inspect, specifically evaluate and immediately repair damaged works to meet the water needs of the people. In the coming time, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will focus on implementing the following contents:

- Submit to the Provincial People's Committee for implementation of the Project to investigate, survey, upgrade and repair 227 damaged and degraded clean water works, including works in 3 districts of Quy Chau, Ky Son and Anh Son (according to support agreement No. 71668 signed on May 22, 2015 between the Australian Embassy and the Center for Domestic Water and Environmental Sanitation of Nghe An Province).

- Coordinate with the Department of Finance and localities to continue implementing Circular 54/2013/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance to assign units to manage and use clean water works according to regulations.

Above is the explanation of issues related to domestic water projects that Nghe An Newspaper raised on May 10, 2015. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development would like to report to the Provincial People's Committee and sincerely thank the Newspaper for its attention.

Nghe An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development