Improving the efficiency of exploiting and using water resources

The exploitation and use of water resources is increasingly diversified and complex. Provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DoNRE) always pays attention to and coordinates with functional departments and agencies to strengthen the management, protection and improvement of the efficiency of using natural resources.

Protecting water quality

Thanks to the river system with good flow, Binh Duong has great potential for surface water. Undergroundwater here is also quite abundant. There are 4 and 5 aquifers in the northern and southern regions of the province, respectively, contributing to supplying clean water to the province.

The water treatment plant under the complex’s water supply branch in Tan Uyen city’s Tan Hiep ward is invested modernly

The water reserve and potential is large. However, the rapid development of urban and industrial areas in the province have significantly affected the quality of water sources. In order to improve the efficiency of water use, every year, provincial DoNRE issues a plan, coordinates with other departments, sectors and localities to irregularly inspect the exploitation activities of organizations and individuals; pays special importance to the management, exploitation and use of water resources, discharge into water sources. Le Van Tan, Head of the Division of Water and Mineral Resources under provincial DoNRE said that Binh Duong is an industrial province, so there is a lot of wastewater from industrial production and urban activities. State management agencies focus on large sources of waste for online and direct control to minimize the source of untreated wastewater discharged into the environment.

In order to effectively and accurately monitor, Binh Duong has invested in an automatic surveillance system for wastewater, surface water and underground water. As of now, through the automatic and continuous surveillance system of waste sources, 108 wastewater sources with the design capacity of over 500 cubic meters per day and night have been monitored, with a monitored wastewater discharge volume of about 200,000 cubic meters per day and night. The application of automation technology, the use of automatic and continuous water quality surveillance equipment, and the use of surveillance cameras and automatic samplers to control the wastewater quality of enterprises have made important contributions in pollution control of major waste sources in the province. Provincial DoNRE is managing, monitoring the operation of automatic underground water surveillance equipment, connecting data transmission of 23 enterprises with 80 wells and 23 centralized water supply stations in rural areas.

In order to protect the quality of water sources, the province has also implemented many related projects such as investigating and assessing the impact of sources that are likely to pollute the quality of underground water sources and propose solutions to protect them. “In the past, people mostly used water from dug wells. As drilling technology develops, dug wells were not used anymore. Some households discharged wastewater or buried waste into these wells, causing the risk of underground water pollution. After a period of mobilization, up to now, most of the dug wells have been filled in, added Mr. Tan.

Efficient exploitation

In order to manage the exploitation, effective and sustainable use of water resources, provincial DoNRE has cooperated with agencies and units to promote propaganda and dissemination of the law on water resources among organizations and individuals getting involved in exploiting and using surface water and underground water, discharging wastewater into water sources and practicing underground water drilling in the province.

Binh Duong Water - Environment Joint Stock Company currently has 8 branches that have met the clean water needs of production facilities and people's activities in the area, contributing to ensuring the local social welfare and economic development. According to Duong Anh Thu, Head of the Supervisory Board of the company, the unit has full licenses with all water exploitation works carried out in accordance with regulations. In order to manage water sources, provincial People's Committee has approved the scope of sanitary protection zone of the domestic water intake area for the company's water resource exploitation works for centralized water supply. According to Ms. Duong Anh Thu, Head of the Supervisory Board of the company, the unit has full licenses, all water exploitation works are carried out in accordance with regulations. In order to manage water sources, provincial People's Committee has approved the scope of sanitary protection zone of the domestic water intake area for the company's water resource exploitation works for centralized water supply. Accordingly, the company is responsible for protecting water sources directly exploited, used, monitoring and supervising activities in the sanitary protection zone of the work’s water intake area. The works mainly exploit surface water from Dong Nai and Saigon rivers. The water supply network is combined into a system to always ensure the water supply, without interruption when there is an incident.

“The company’s water supply plants are installed with automatic surveillance equipment to monitor the flow and quality of water; equipped with canoe equipment to regularly monitor the discharge of waste and garbage into the water source. The data is transmitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment or the DoNRE corresponding to each exploitation license. The company has also applied scientific and technological achievements, improving production and business efficiency, with a low level of water loss", added Mrs. Thu.

Reported by Tien Hanh-Quoc Khanh-Translated by Kim Tin