BGR experts work with Southern Division and Central Division for operational planning of the Project Climate Resilient Management of Groundwater and Geohazard 2022-2025

During the three days from October 14 to 16, 2022, a group of experts from the German Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) visited and worked with the Division of Water Resources Planning and Investigation in the South (Ho Chi Minh City) and the Central Division of Water Resources Planning and Investigation (Nha Trang City – Khanh Hoa) within the framework of a planning mission for the Project Climate Resilient Management of Groundwater and Geohazard 2022-2025 in Vietnam.

The Southern Division and Central Division are the institutions with extensive experience in the investigation and assessment of water resources over a large area of ​​operation: 19 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region-Southeast region and 13 provinces and cities in the South Central region, respectively. Many key tasks in the management of water resources of the localities (delineating restriction areas of groundwater exploitation, cataloging of water sources and water source protection corridors, assessing the current discharge status, the ability to receive wastewater…) have been implemented by the two Divisions as a consultant. In addition, the Divisions also investigate and assess water quality issues, river bank erosion, and search for water sources in water-scarce areas.

With a large number of young staffs, many of which are newly recruited, the Divisions have a good opportunity to develop high-quality human resources to meet practical needs in the near future when the Law on water resources are (amended) is enacted and come into force. The Divisions are looking forward to the BGR Project to allocate resources to support capacity building for their young staffs through specialized focused courses, training courses (programming, computer science, monitoring, sampling, preservation, transportation of water samples…) as well as transfer a number of technologies to serve the investigation and assessment of water resources (3D geophysics, rock drilling, geophysics for exploration of crack zones with improved accuracy…).

The representative of the Central Division brought the expert team to visit a well under the project on finding water sources in water-scarce areas for domestic water supply, which is located on the campus of the boarding school for ethnic minorities in Cam Thinh Tay commune – Cam Ranh City – Khanh Hoa province and proposed to test a model of MAR using harvested rainwater at this site.

In general, the BGR expert group and the representatives of the two Divisions recognize the importance of cooperation between BGR and the two Divisions within the framework of the Project for the period of 2022-2025 when the Project focuses on capacity building and at the same time shift to identification and implementation of practical solutions for groundwater protection.