Onsult with scientists on Draft Law on Water Resources (Amended)

Addressing the opening ceremony, President of VUSTA Phan Xuan Dung stated that water is a vital resource to humans and any living creatures on the earth. Without water, life wouldn't exist. Therefore, Vietnam pays special attention to water issues and water resources through policies and the entire system of national laws, such as the 1998 Law on Water Resources, the 2012 Law on Water Resources, and the Draft Law on Water Resources (amended).

President of VUSTA Phan Xuan Dung speaks at the opening ceremony

Summarizing the Draft Law on Water Resources, the Director General of the Department of Water Resources Management, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Chau Tran Vinh said that the 2012 Law on Water Resources was approved by the 13th National Assembly (NA) on June 21, 2012. After more than 10 years of implementation, the Law has contributed to creating positive changes in the awareness and actions of the entire society regarding the protection, exploitation, and use of water resources; Water resources are managed and used more effectively and sustainably, bringing revenue to the Government budget.

However, besides these achievements, some provisions of the 2012 Law also interfered and overlapped with other laws, leading to difficulty in implementation or waste of resources. Along with that, there is a lack of legal framework for water security, especially the issue of ensuring water security for daily use; lack of specific provisions related to water regulation and allocation, and strict supervision of water resource exploitation and usage; the problem of artificial replenishment of groundwater; the problem of minimizing urban flooding and fully treasuring the value of water resources; some business conditions are no longer suitable; lack of transparent and clear mechanisms and policies to create favorable conditions and encourage social resources of economic sectors and socio-political organizations within the scope of responsibility of ministries, industries and localities; lack of regulations for new contents that have arisen.

The Director General of the Department of Water Resources Management summarizes the Draft Law on Water Resources

In addition, some places haven't taken the enforcement of water resources laws seriously, and the detection, prevention, and punishment of violations haven't been done well; financial mechanisms, sanctions, control, and supervision tools were ineffective; cooperation mechanisms to resolve cross-border water issues are still not synchronized; some relevant legal contents are not aligned with the Law on Water Resources, etc.

Regarding the development of the Law, Mr. Vinh also said that implementing Resolution No. 50/2022/QH15 dated June 13, 2022, of the NA on the Program for developing laws and ordinances in 2023, adjusting the Program for developing laws and ordinances in 2022, the Government has assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to be the lead agency and coordinate with relevant ministries and industries to develop the Draft Law on Water Resources (amended). Carrying out these tasks, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has developed the Draft Law on Water Resources (amended) based on summarizing the implementation of the 2012 Law on Water Resources; Reviewing and evaluating 48 codes, laws, and resolutions of the NA related to water resources; Researching relevant international experiences. In addition, the Draft has been sent to ministries, sectors, and localities, and publicized on Vietnam Government Portal.

Therefore, to ensure uniformity and synchronization, and minimize interference and overlap, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has developed the Draft Law in the direction of regulating all contents on management, protection, exploitation, and use of water resources, prevention and control of harmful effects caused by water have been stipulated in other Laws. The Draft Law specifies the responsibilities of ministries and industries such as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance by assigned functions and tasks in laws related to water resources to ensure synchronization and consistency.

The Draft Law on Water Resources (amended) has a structure of 10 chapters and 87 articles. Compared to the 2012 Law on Water Resources, the Draft Law does not increase the number of chapters (in which 19 articles remain unchanged, 55 articles are amended and supplemented, 13 new articles are added and 5 articles are abolished). Compared with the March 2023 Draft Law, the September 2023 Draft Law has received and added many comments from agencies, industries, associations, experts, scientists, and the public.

Prof. Dr. Dao Xuan Hoc, the President of the Vietnam Water Resources Development Association (VIWARDA), emphasizes that water resources management is intricately linked with the protection, exploitation, use, and development of water resources, as well as prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, particularly in the current climate change scenario. He suggests that these activities should be considered as a single term.

Prof. Dr. Dao Xuan Hoc - President of VIWARDA

Commenting on the Draft Law on Water Resources (amended), Dr. Hoang Van Khoa - Vice President of the Vietnam Union of Geological Sciences (VUGS) said that, regarding the scope of regulation in Article 1, the Draft Law proposed not to include 'groundwater' within the scope of the Law on Water Resources. Nonetheless, as per the principle of 'groundwater', it qualifies as a water resource and hence must be included in this Law.

Dr. Hoang Van Khoa proposed to review the overlap in management between the Law on Water Resources the Law on Irrigation and the Law on Hydrometeorology. In particular, 'rainwater' and 'surface water' are also subject to management by other laws.

Dr. Hoang Van Khoa - Vice President of VUGS

Regarding types of water resources planning, it is necessary to arrange planning regulations in the order of water resources planning and then technical and specialized planning. Each type of planning needs to show the following contents: Principles, grounds, planning content, deadline, and approval authority.

Assoc. Prof. Luu Duc Hai - President of VIASEE said it is written in Clause 8, Article 2 that: "River basin means a land area within which surface water and groundwater naturally flow into a river and drain through a common estuary or into the sea". However, this definition is not entirely accurate. While surface water in the river basin may flow according to the terrain, underground water or groundwater only circulates in the aquifer (sand, pebbles, and gravel) which may not follow the terrain. The aquifer slope direction could even be opposite to that of the terrain. He suggested removing the phrase 'groundwater' from this definition or adding the phrase 'most' before the phrase 'groundwater'.

Assoc. Prof. Luu Duc Hai - President of VIASEE

At the seminar, delegates discussed and gave many opinions such as: in Article 23 regulating water source protection corridors, the contents are correct but very difficult to be carried out, especially in the Mekong Delta. In fact, most of the large and medium-sized canals in this region have been encroached on by people to build houses. This has narrowed the flow and polluted the river, yet no penalties could be imposed.

As mentioned in Section I, natural conditions have a great impact on water sources. It is unrealistic that Article 25, which stipulates the assurance of flow circulation, only mentions construction works and not houses encroaching on canal banks.

In the current situation of the Mekong Delta, canals serve both as a source of production and domestic water. However, they are also used as toilets in some places, which makes it difficult to enforce Article 26 regulations.

Minimum flow regulations should also be considered. Not all reservoirs require them. Specifically, small and medium-sized lakes are often constructed on small streams. These streams don't flow in the dry season, so these lakes can only store water during the rainy season (In fact, there are approximately 6,000 to 7,000 small irrigation lakes in Vietnam that follow this pattern).

In the Draft Law on Water Resources (amended), the roles, functions, and missions of river basin management organizations are not mentioned. According to some delegates, if there is a strong river basin management organization, water resources management will be much more effective.

Vice Chairwoman of the NA Committee on Science, Technology, and Society Nguyen Thi Le Thuy said that to serve the verification, the Standing Committee of Science, Technology, and Environment has organized surveys, consultative seminars, and talk shows with experts and scientists; Collect opinions from relevant agencies and organizations and the Nationalities Council and Committees of the National Assembly on the content of the Law on Water Resources (amended). The synthesis of comments shows that amending the Law on Water Resources is necessary to help complete the legal system of water resources management in the context of strengthening water security, lifting barriers in water resources management, and integration.

The revised Law on Water Resources has comprehensively incorporated the innovative perspectives and orientations of the Vietnam Socialist Party and Government on water resources management, especially Conclusion No. 36-KL/TW dated June 23, 2022 of the Politburo on ensuring water source security and safety of dams and reservoirs by 2030, vision 2045 to contribute to assuring water source security, preventing water pollution and restoring degraded and depleted water sources; innovate and improve the legal framework on water resources management; effectively exploit and use water resources in the direction of water governance, promote socialization of the water sector and apply economic tools in water resource management.

Speaking about the feasibility of the Law project, Vice Chairwoman of the Committee for Science, Technology, and Environment, Nguyen Thi Le Thuy, stated that the project has been developed by taking into account the 2012 Law on Water Resources and summarizing its implementation, along with reviewing and comparing it with other relevant laws. As a result, the provisions of the Law project basically ensure its feasibility.

Bringing the seminar to a close, the President of VUSTA Phan Xuan Dung highly appreciated the delegates' contributions to the completion of the Law project. He also said that VUSTA will synthesize all opinions to submit to the NA for consideration.

Scene of the seminar