Hanoi (VNA)𝓰 – Vietnam is making efforts to protect groundwater – the hidden source of life – in response to World Water Day 2022.

Starting in 1993, World Water Day on March 22 has special meaning, aiming to encourage political interest and inspire the community to join hands to protect water resources, and spread actions for sustainable development. In 2022, the theme of the World Water Day is “Groundwater – Making the invisible visible" because it is a reliable source of life to serve daily and production activities. This year’s campaign will explain groundwater’s vital role in filtration and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems, and climate change adaptation. The overarching message of the campaign is that exploring, protecting, and using groundwater sustainably will be central to surviving and adapting to climate change and meeting the needs of a growing population.

Risk of groundwater exhaustion

A representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said that since 1994, activities in response to the World Water Day organised by Vietnam have now become a nationwide movement, contributing to raising the awareness of the public on the protection of water resources, especially freshwater and groundwater. Although groundwater in Vietnam is relatively abundant, environmental pollution has been a challenge. Notably, in recent years, due to high demand for groundwater, it faces the risk of rapid depletion. According to environmental experts, compared to surface water, groundwater is less polluted, but for areas where the mantle on the aquifer is thin or highly permeable, it is also very easy to contaminate the aquifer. In addition, boreholes with poor isolation structure, dirty water can follow the borehole wall to penetrate the aquifer, thereby contaminating groundwater. Not to mention, when groundwater is polluted, the remediation is very complicated, as it not only costs much to treat, but also requires a long time to overcome. Therefore, if there are no appropriate policies and master planning on the basic survey of national water resources, this precious and finite resource will go unprotected.

Using water frugally to share the opportunity

In order to minimise the above potential pressures, through the theme “Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible” of World Water Day 2022, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment hopes that the community will pay more attention. Protecting groundwater and proposing effective solutions to manage, use and protect water resources sustainably are of critical importance. The ministry has also launched several dissemination slogans such as: Underground water is invisible but its impact is visible everywhere; working together to protect and sustainably use groundwater to adapt to climate change; in the driest places, groundwater may be the only source of water we have; let's use water frugally to share the opportunity for everyone. Previously, on February 25, the ministry also sent a written request to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities, requiring the urgent implementation of the delineation and announcement of the list of “restricted areas for groundwater exploitation”. Chau Tran Vinh, Director of the Department of Water Resources Management under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said groundwater management has been carried out relatively well in all provinces and cities. This is evident in the law dissemination, exploitation surveying, water resources assessment, groundwater exploration and exploitation licensing. It is also seen in groundwater use and protection planning, zoning areas of banned or restricted exploitation, and setting up the monitoring network. However, he also pointed out that groundwater investigation and assessment have yet to be closely connected with socio-economic development planning or meet water exploitation planning requirements. To improve groundwater management, localities need to step up communications to raise public awareness of water exploitation and use, enhance law enforcement, and boost the capacity of water resource investigation, research, and assessment. Besides, they should also build and upgrade groundwater monitoring systems, carry out urban groundwater protection programmes, and make plans on groundwater protection and exploitation. This needs to be carried out firstly in the deltas and areas with high groundwater potential and exploitation demand, according to Vinh./.