1
PROPOSAL ON
ESTABLISHING A SURFACE-WATER QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK
FOR THE MEKONG DELTA, VIETNAM

prepared by
College of Technology, CanTho University, Vietnam
(Version 22 July 2004)
oOo
I. INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE
1.1 The Mekong Delta and its main environmental problem
Mekong River, the 11
th
largest river in the world, is the main water source for irrigation, fishery,
and domestic use… In short, the living of the whole population in the Mekong Delta (MD) is
depending and will be depended on this resource.
The MD of Vietnam is located at the most downstream part of the Mekong river basin. With a
population of 17 million inhabitants living in 4 million hectares of land, the MD has great
potentials for agricultural production. The MD is the most important agricultural production
region for the whole country. It supplies for more than 50% of staple food and 60% of fish
production and accounts for 27% of the total GDP of Vietnam. Rice and fishery products
contribute significantly to the nation’s export earning.
The MD is a typical river delta, with a dense water system of natural creeks, small rivers.
Besides, artificial canals for irrigation, drainage and navigation have been constructed
throughout the whole region. Farmers, accounted for 85% of the total population, are living in
communities, which are split into small parcels, along the waterways. Only 30% of them can
access to safe water, the rest using directly surface water at the rivers or canals. Unfortunately, as
the consequences of a fast-growing economy, which is strongly based on agriculture, the region
is facing more and more severe environmental problems like pollution of water resources by
pesticides, fertilizers and animals manure, etc., especially since the past ten years. While most of


1.2.1 Problems on water quantity
1. Shortage of fresh water for irrigation in the dry season
In 1999, a total area of 1.4 millions ha of spring-rice crop (dry season crop) needs irrigation.
Water demands are increased proportional with rice cultivation areas. From 1995 to 1999, newly
reclaimed areas available for rice cultivation has increased by 105.000 ha/year (Statistical
Yearbook 2000).
The main thrust of water resources development may be on-farm development and canal
improvement (enlargement of existing, and construction of new primary and secondary canals)
to bring more irrigation water to the already irrigated areas and to improve drainage conditions
and promote flushing of acid water. Embankment improvement in the deeply flooded areas could
prevent flooding till the end of August. In the shallow flooded, already more developed areas;
full year round protection is possible.
Both rainfall and river flow have a pronounced seasonal patterns. Periods of water excess
alternate with periods of water shortage, and water control measures must essentially adapt to
this regime feature. Virtually the only source of water for irrigation is the Mekong River, which
can with relatively minor improvements of the existing canal system, be channeled to all part of
the MD except for the southern and western part of the Ca Mau Peninsula. The discharges of the
Mekong river system are adequate to meet the irrigation water requirement during the early part
of the dry season and in June, a month with frequent dry spells after the start of the wet season.
However, during the March – May period, Mekong discharges are low and are required to
prevent deep saline water intrusion. Higher rates of abstraction would increase salinity intrusion
which is already affecting large areas.
2. Flood
An area of 1.2 to 1.9 millions ha of the MD is under annual floods. The severity degree and
frequency of the floods is increased. Within the past forty years, four substantial floods have
occurred in the following years: 1961, 1978, 1991 and 2000.
During the period of high river discharges, the banks of the Mekong river system are overtopped
on a large scale and the land is inundated. This inundation usually starts in July /August ands in
November/December. As there is considerable attenuation of the river water levels and

In large parts of the MD, clayey sediments deposited under brackish or saline conditions contain
soluble sulfates. In these, sulfate-reducing bacteria convert the sulfate to sulfides under anaerobic
conditions. This result in the formation of hydrogen sulfide – a highly toxic gas – and iron
sulfide, pyrites, FeS
2
, an insoluble non-toxic compound.
Acid sulfate soils, form when soils containing iron sulfide are exposed to oxygen, cover 1.6
millions ha (40%) of the MD (Minh et al. 1996). Soils with high iron sulfide content do not
usually become a problem so long as the soil remains inundated (Brinkman, Ve, et al. 1993).
Agricultural activities in the acid sulfate soils, especially in the large scale in the 2 severely acid
regions, Plain of Reeds and Long Xuyen Quadrangular (with a total surface area of more than 1
million ha), major cause of water pollution in the region.
The most significant detrimental properties of acid sulfate soils are:
• Release of acid (and sometimes toxic) drainage water which causes detrimental impacts
on the environment downstream.
• Fixation of phosphorus in the form of insoluble aluminum or iron phosphate. This locks
up phosphate from surface and groundwater, leading to phosphorus deficiency and a fall in
primary productivity.

2. Salinity intrusion
Salinity intrusion is the most important effect that influences water quality in the MD. Currently,
1.7 millions ha of the delta (42%) is under salinity intrusion (SIWRMP 1995). Salinity intrusion
is the principal limit factor of agricultural production (most of the are is under mono-crop of

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rice), where located most of the poor provinces with a high ratio of poor farmers. Shortage of
drinking water is another diversity for local people. In order to prevent further salinity intrusion,
it is necessary to keep flows from dropping too low (WB-ADB 1996).
The reduced freshwater flows allow salt water to penetrate further upstream into the estuarine
channels, changing the chemical environment and causing substantial changes in the species

If appropriate measures are not taken to reduce the discharges of domestic waste products into
the ambient environment, then probably the capacity of the nature to decompose and turnover
these waste products will be exceeded in the near future. This assumption is based on the
dramatically increase in the growth of population in the past 20 years. The development of the
MD in the near future is expected in high rate in which urbanization will cause serious
degradation of water quality.

4. Organic pollution

Besides causing aesthetic water pollution problems, dumping or discharge of organic matter into
receiving water bodies also creates oxygen deficiency. After being discharged into the water the

5
organic matter starts decomposing. This process is oxygen consuming and temperature
dependent and the high temperature in the Mekong River system all the year around will
accelerate this process. If the receiving water bodies do not have the oxygen renewal capacity
which is required to accommodate the amount of discharge organic matter, oxygen depletion can
result in killing of fish and other aquatic organisms which depend on oxygen from the water
itself. The variation of dissolved oxygen is quite various at different sites in the MD.
Oxygen saturation levels in the relatively high temperature water of the Mekong River system
are comparatively low, and an average BOD of 3 mg/L corresponds to actual concentrations of
dissolved oxygen of only around 5 mg/L. Many river fish become respiratory dependent at or
near this level. This means that the hemoglobin in their blood is unable to carry its full potential
loading oxygen, and this may alter their ability to survive or compete with others less affected.
So apparently harmless low levels of organic pollution may still have substantial environmental
impacts at the species level. If adversely affected species are significant in human diets, then
there may be negative impacts on human nutrition and health.

5. Agro-chemical pollution
Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are essential for the growth of all plants. Discharge of


6
that will accumulate in the environment, such as certain metals, pesticides and other organic
substances resistant to bio-degradation, require particularly cautious regulation since their effect
may be irreversible or present hazards to consumers of the water, i.e. for drinking or aquatic
organisms.
At present the MD is not detrimentally impacted due to discharges of industrial waste products.
However, in near future with rapid development in the region, this should be taken into
consideration, the responsible environmental authorities has to establish an industrial
management plan aiming at protection the environment against industrial discharges.
Annually, Department of Science Technology and Environment (DOSTE) of 11 provinces in the
MD organized two campaigns for monitoring surface-water quality. Those activities are useful
when they want to observe about surface-water quality in their basin. In addition, those results
could be used to orient the development of their provinces. However, the results of this campaign
could not be used in the effective way because of the following reasons:
• The sampling and analyzing techniques are varied from province to province.
• There is not a common format for managing the data.
As the consequent, up to now, the whole picture of the water pollution evolution of the MD
cannot be drawn. Recognizing the urgent need of the establishment of a Water quality
monitoring network for the MD that use the unified technique and data base for sharing the
information, Cantho University (CTU), the center of education and research in the MD (see
annex) is writing this project proposal calling for support.

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II. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
2.1 Overall objective

Establishing the Mekong Delta Water Quality Monitoring Network in which CTU will be the
center of this network. The members of this network are CTU and DOSTEs in the MD, other
institutions in the countries along the Mekong River. These members will use the same analysis,

• Experts of CTU

3.3 Training in Vietnam
Topics:
• Sampling methods
• Analyzing methods, especially the ones that are suitable with used equipments.
• Applied GIS to Water Management

3.4 Training in foreign country
2 MSc. in:
• Applied Informatics in Water Quality Monitoring
• Water Quality Management

3.5 Lab equipments
The following equipments need to be equipped for the labs:
pH meter
DO meter
Microorganism incubation chamber
Sterilizing chamber
Vacuum filtration set (for Suspended solid analyzing)
Spectrophotometer (Hatch DR 4000)
BOD incubator
Hand-held GPS
Computers

3.6 Library and Information Unit
A bookshelf specializing on Water Resources Management to provide information to staff for
their monitoring activities will be established. The information unit with a server for update and
share the monitoring result will be establishes at managed at CTU.


• Member: Mr. Nguyen Vo Chau Ngan, lecturer, College of Technology, CTU (MSc. in
Sanitary Engineering, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium)
• Members: representatives of DOSTE of eleven provinces in the MD

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VI. TIME SCHEDULE
The project will be implemented in 5 years from 2003 - 2008

VII. ESTIMATED BUDGET
The project will be carried out based on share-burden budget.
The DOSTE will contribute the cost for analyzing water samples that are calculated as the
followings:
Contributing budget of DOSTEs
Province Cost (US dollar/year) Total contribution in 5 years (US dollar)
Dong Thap 1830 9150
An Giang 4730 23650
Bac Lieu 3680 18400
Ben Tre 2800 14000
Ca Mau 3505 17525
Can Tho 5610 28050
Kien Giang 3330 16650
Soc Trang 3330 16650
Tien Giang 3330 16650
Tra Vinh 5432 27160
Vinh Long 4556 22780
Total 41533 207665

CTU will contribute:
• Room for information unit
• Qualified staffs

analyzing)
950 12 11400
- Autoclave 1200 12 14400
- Colony counter 500 12 6000
- Nitrogen distillation GEHART 3276 12 39312
- Electronic balance 1821 12 21852
- Spectrophotometer (Hatch DR 4000) 6.500 12 78.000
- BOD bottle (300 ml) 18 600 10800
- BOD incubator 2.000 12 24.000
- Hand-held GPS 500 12 6.000
- Computers + printers 1.800 15 27000
Books 1.000 12 12.000
Total 407964 12
REFERENCE
Axelsson, V. 1992. Sedimentation in the Nam Ngum Reservoir, Lao PDR. Uppsala
University.
Brinkman, W. R., Nguyen Bao Ve and Tran Kim Tinh. 1993. Sulfidic Materials in the
Western Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Catena 20(3):317-331.
Choowaaew Sansanee (ed.) 1992. Proceedings of the Workshop on Wetlands Management
in the Lower Mekong Basin, 7-12 December 1992. Ho Chi Minh city. Vietnam.
Hoang Tho Dien. 2000. Mekong Water Source for Development of Mekong Delta. In: Tran
Cao Thanh (ed.) Vietnam and Mekong Sub-region Development Cooperation. The Gioi
Publisher. Ha Noi.
Lam Minh Triet and Nguyen Thanh Hung. 2001. Problems of Drinking Water Supply and
Environment in Flood-Prone Areas in Mekong Delta. J. of Environmental Protection.
Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment. Ha Noi. No. 4-2001 [In Vietnamese]
Le Huy Ba. 2000. Introduction to Environment Management. Ho Chi Minh city National

ASPAC. Taipei. pp. 352-366.
Nguyen Hoang Tri. 1995. Environmental Issues and Priority Programs for Sustainable
Development in Plain of Reeds. Oxfam America/NOVIB/CRES. Ha Noi University and
Cantho University.
Ni, D. V. 1997. A simple farming system on acid sulphate soils for the poor farmers. Paper
presented in the workshop on Problem Soils. Cantho University. March 1997.
Ongley, E. D. 1996. Control of water pollution from agriculture. FAO Irrigation and
Drainage Paper 55. Rome.
Phan Nguyen Hong and Hoang Thi San. 1993. Mangroves of Vietnam. Gland: IUCN
Wetland Programme.
Phan Xuan Su. 1996. Country Paper of Vietnam. In (W. L. Arriens, J. Bird, J. Berkoff, et
al., eds.) Towards Effective Water Policy in Asian and Pacific Region: Volume 2 - Country
Papers. Proceedings of the Regional Consultation Workshop – Towards a Policy for Water
Resources Development in the Asian and Pacific Region. Manila, Philippines, 10-14 May
1996. ADB Manila.
SIWRMP (Sub-Institute of Water Resources Management and Planning). 1995. Major
Issues in Water Resources Development in the Mekong Delta. Ho Chi Minh city.
Ta Quang Ngoc 2000. Vietnam’s Objective to Sustainably Utilize the Economic and
Nutritional Potential of the Aquatic Resources in the Mekong Delta. In: Tran Cao Thanh
(ed.) Vietnam and Mekong Sub-region Development Cooperation. The Gioi Publisher. Ha
Noi.
Tran Duc Kham 1988. Water quality reclamation in the Plain of Reeds in the 80’s.
Proceeding of Workshop on Water Quality in Lower Mekong River. Ho Chi Minh city.
September 1988. International Mekong Committee.
World Bank/ADB/FAO/UNDP/NGO/GOV. 1996. Vietnam: Water Resources Sector
Review. Washington.

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ANNEX 1
Figure 1. Network of monitoring waterways for surface-water quality in MD

and Microbiology, with a total of 300 students. The university also offers specialized
courses in Economics, Hydrology, Agronomy, and other subjects to ethnic minority
groups.
In response to the demand of training for training in the MD, CTU also helps some
provinces in the region to open in-service centers. The number of students in these centers
in 2001 was 14,600. The university assists these centers by training staff, sending lecturers,
and providing teaching curricula.
Since the school year 1995-1996, the university has applied the credit administration and
training system. Now, this work has been completed and is in use. This new training
process helps students be active in deciding their study.
CTU's training programs are very practical for the region due to the following:
• Using and applying data and information specific to the region in research and
training.
• Students of agronomy, pedagogy, medicine and other majors practice, research and
do graduation papers in rural communities in the MD.
• From 1990 to 1996 CTU built new buildings, with a total area of 24,758 m
2
, for
studying and doing experiments, student accommodation, and other uses. Of the area,
studying buildings occupy 3,405 m
2
, labs: 8,269 m
2
; dorms 677 m
2
; houses: 1,220 m
2
;
gym: 1,500 m
2

the MD.
CTU is especially concerned with applying scientific achievements to practical production
in order to industrialize and modernize the MD because this region is rich in productive
land and agricultural resources.
Many young teachers, who have been following post-graduate courses both inside and
outside Vietnam in recent years, have been participating in the university's research
projects and achieved many accomplishments.

3. Statistics
The university has been conducting 5 national-level point-of-research projects financed by
the Ministry of Education and Training and another 13 ministry-level projects in 1997.
These projects have been going well as planned in the outline. The university accepted the
general educational research project in the MD. The Ministry approved and awarded 3
excellent projects when the 30th anniversary of the university was celebrated.

4. Context
Cantho University participates in research projects at all levels:
• Contracts for research at state level:

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- Projects on development of varieties, in which the most important is to
research, to breed, and to select varieties of paddy. From this project, many varieties
accepted by Vietnamese Agricultural Ministry have been propagated in the MD. In
addition, CTU is researching and preserving various collections on varieties of paddy,
soya-bean and fruit trees.
- Projects researching soils having problems, the most important being research
on acid sulfate soils. Due to this project, CTU has trained teaching and research staff to a
high professional knowledge in soil chemistry, soil mechanics, and GIS, and has also
acquired modern synchronous equipment that is helpful in soil research.
- Research on aquaculture, including the shrimp artemia project.

development of trees.

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• Cooperation projects with foreign Universities and Institutes: CTU is cooperating with
many foreign Universities and Institutes in research projects, including soil improvement,
nitrogen fixing, animal food, shrimp and fish raising, and artemia.
• Organize workshops and important scientific conferences:
- Efficiently utilize the acid sulfate soils in the MD.
- Workshop on utilization of soils having problems in the MD and another
regions.
- Workshop on anaerobic fermentation technology in order to manage water
resources and waste that impact social economics and ecology.
- GIS technology in research and in the utilization of natural resources.
- Workshop on development of education for the 21
st
century.
- Workshop on summary of Heifer program.
- Research and develop the field of aquaculture in the mainland and South East
Asian Sea.
- Workshop on the transfer of economical agricultural structure and rural
development.
In general, activities of research in CTU are diverse and there are good projects
implemented in the conditions of the MD that contribute considerably toward rural
development and increasing the standard of life of farmers.
5. Relation with social economic field
CTU has a good relationship with the social economic field. Almost all foreign experts
working at CTU have made the same remark. This is a main strong point of CTU. In the
past, CTU closed the door for 2 – 3 weeks in order to send the students and staff to the
countryside to help the farmers destroy insects to overcome big epidemics. Every year,
CTU has an anti-illiteracy campaign in an out-of-the-way region. The students

improving all activities of the university.
In addition, CTU has a network of collaborators who are advanced farmers in almost all
provinces. These collaborators take an important role to help the activities for encouraging
agricultural and technology transfer from the university to the field.
The students of CTU usually visit provinces having an exchange program for young people
and provincial students. These activities help students get good conditions to contact with
reality.

6. Technical infrastructure serving for training and research
Based on data calculating property as of 01/1/2001, the total value of immobile property of
CTU: 443,597,742,564 VN dong.
The average value of wealth per 1 student: 29,573,182.84 VN dong/student
(This data is calculated with 15,000 of students)
The total area that CTU has managed and utilized: 87,6957 ha
The total area of existing buildings: 101,377 m
2
- Concrete building (level 3, level 2 and level 1) 62,246 m
2
- Partial Concrete building (level 4) 39,131 m
2Table 1. Value of CTU's property
No Types of property Value (VN dong) Ratio
1 Buildings-building materials 339,965,212,805 76.64%
2 Means of transportation 10,730,788,000 2.42%
3 Machines & Equipment 76,840,049,759 17.32%
4 Others 16,061,692,000 3.62%
Total 443,597,742,564 100%


synchronously in order to bring all faculties up to date. The equipment will be used
immediately, especially for faculties such as: College of Education, College of Technology
and the Medical Faculty. The following table demonstrates the current situation of
imbalance in the equipment available for teaching and research work between the faculties
of CTU.
Table 2. Value of equipment in the different faculties
No School, College Original value Ratio %
1 School of Education 5,911,764 8.19
2 College of Agricultural 37,606,709 52.11
3 College of Technology 6,739,721 9.34
4 School of Medicine 8,218,537 11.39
5 Faculty of Sciences 4,359,476 6.04
6 College of Information Technology 6,697,153 9.28
7 College of Economics & Business
Management
2,516,166 3.49
8 School of Law 114,907 0.16
Total
72,164,433 100
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7. Staff members
The status of manpower of CTU is described in Table 3.
Table 3. Quantity and knowledge of staff members of CTU
Kinds of staff
Doctor Ass. Doctor
Master Bachelor Technician Others Total
Teaching staff 37 14 346 411 12 820

- Central Library
- Science and Technology Information Center
- Center of Services

8.4 Support Departments
- Department of General Administration
- Department of Personnel
- Department of Finance
- Department of Academic Affairs
- Department of Sciences and Post-graduate Programs
- Department of Political and Recreation Affairs
- Department of Physical Facilities and Equipment
- Dormitory Management Board

8.5 Other Departments
- Department of Politics
- Department of Physical and Sport Education
- Department of Military Education

9. Financial sources and activities
The activities of finance can be seen that the expenditure implementation was for different
contents as the following:
- Salary, work payment and others
- Scholarships
- Mission fees
- Professional fees
- Strengthening materials and technical facilities
- Scientific research

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organizations in and outside Vietnam is also a vital mandate of CTU.
10.2 Development objective
CTU will build quickly towards meeting the target set for all universities in the country,
which is being on equal footing with other universities in the Southeast Asian region. The
University will also retain and strengthen its position as the primary educational and
technological center in the MD.

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10.3 Development model
CTU has the advantage of a stable multidisciplinary model in which the interaction
between colleges, institutions and centers is well organized for obtaining the University’s
target. This model has a major advantage of appropriate use of available manpower.
Students of one school or college usually take courses from others. The school of
education and college of sciences are responsible for giving lectures in basic courses for
students in all other schools and colleges. In the future, the University will retain and
improve this model.
CTU is organized into university, college, and department levels with well-defined
management procedures. The colleges are given major responsibilities for financial
expenses, number of students to be recruited, training and research programs, as well as
international relations. The college can even assign some of the above-mentioned
responsibilities to the department level.
Some large departments may divide into professional groups, however, these groups are
not officially considered as a structure of university system. Additionally, CTU has several
multidisciplinary professional groups formed from different colleges to perform research
and technology transfer to the community. For instance, women's groups for rural
development or rural development and planning groups (e.g. College of Agriculture,
College of Technology, School of Economics and Business Administration, and School of
Medicine Pharmacy and Dentistry).