Law on Water Resources should be amended to ensure water security: Expert

Hanoi (VNA) – Although substantial results have been achieved after nine years of implementing the Law on Water Resources 2012, some shortcomings have been revealed, resulting in ineffective use of water and causing loss of budget revenue, according to Chau Tran Vinh, Director of the Department of Water Resources Management (DWRM) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).

This requires amendments and supplements to the law to improve the efficiency of water resources and ensure water security in the future, he told VietnamPlus.

The Law on Water Resources 2012 is an important law. Thus, as soon as it was promulgated, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment developed and submitted 61 documents detailing the implementation of the law to the Government and the Prime Minister for issuance.

Since the law took effect in 2012, it has fundamentally changed the awareness of people, businesses and Party committees at all levels regarding the efficient exploitation and use of water as well as protection of national water resources, he said.

This was also a timely move, especially in the context that water sources are increasingly at risk of being depleted and polluted under the strong impact of socio-economic development of upstream countries and impact of climate change, Vinh said. He added that water is gradually being considered as national property and has high economic and social value.

Vietnam is facing many challenges, requiring that the Law on Water Resources and other legal documents relating to the management and protection of water resources be amended to ensure national water resource security.

In fact, the security of national water resources has not been stipulated in the law. The country's water resources are coping with obstacles such as the uneven distribution of water, impacts of climate change, and the degradation and pollution of water sources. Conflicts over water use at river basins, low access to safe clean water, and inefficiency in water usage are also problems.

Currently, the law does not have specific regulations to fully calculate the value of water resources. Units, organisations and businesses have not yet calculated the overall production cost, nor have they determined the efficiency of water use. This leads to miscalculation and insufficient collection of fees and loss of water.

Therefore, a revision of the Law on Water Resources was necessary to solve the above-mentioned inadequacies. It contributed to enhancing the efficiency of exploitation and sustainable use of water, ensuring water security for the present and the future, he said.

The official also pointed out that there is an imbalance of resources for the implementation of the law.

The MONRE has the general management function. It promulgates legal regulations related to water resources, strategy and planning on water resources and pollution control. However, Vinh said a lack of resources to carry out the tasks resulted in the fact that it has not achieved the desired target.

To overcome these shortcomings, Vinh said, it was essential to update and institutionalise guidelines and policies of the Party and State on the management and protection of water resources towards improving the efficiency in the management, exploitation, usage and promotion of economic resources.

National resources should be efficiently and sustainably managed in line with market principles while strengthening international cooperation on the use of transboundary water resources.

Shortcomings of the existing Law on Water Resources should be settled, ensuring that it is consistent with other legal frameworks related to the management and protection of water resources, he said.

Vinh highlighted the importance of having transparent and clear mechanisms and policies aimed at creating favourable conditions to encourage social resources in water resource monitoring.

He also mentioned the need to restore degraded and polluted rivers and appraise public services as well as activities to protect riverbeds./.