Training course on “Groundwater Protection Zone Delineation in Vietnam”
During the two weeks from 15/7/2013 to 26/7/2013, at Hanoi Club hotel, the Project “Improvement of Groundwater Protection in Vietnam” (IGPVN) organized one Training course on “Groundwater Protection Zone Delineation in Vietnam”.
The training course was instructed by Dr. Armin Margane, a senior expert on hydrogeology from BGR. Dr. Armin Margane has many years of experience in groundwater protection zone delineation. He has been supervising BGR projects on groundwater protection in some of the Middle East countries.
There were 19 participants attending the training course including staffs from the National Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation (NAWRPI), staffs from the three Divisions belong to NAWRPI, staffs from Hanoi and Nam Dinh DONRE, lecturers from the Department of Geology – Hanoi University of Mining and Geology and the technical assistants of IGPVN project.
During the two-week training, the participants were acquainted with international groundwater protection zoning scheme, legal aspects and practical aspects in groundwater protection zone delineation. They were also aware of data and information required for groundwater protection zone delineation, methods for groundwater protection zone delineation in porous and karstic aquifers. A final report on groundwater protection zone delineation was outlined. Moreover, Dr. Margane also offered a lot of references on groundwater protection zone delineation, groundwater vulnerability mapping. The participants have been very self-motivated in discussions on the issues relating to groundwater quality: sources of groundwater pollution, groundwater protection, land use licensing, solid waste treatment and wastewater treatment in Vietnam.
The Nam Du well field located in the south of Hanoi, belonging to the Nam Du water treatment plant was selected to be a case study. All the participants together with the IGPVN project leader and the vice director of NAWRPI have paid a visit to the Nam Du water treatment plant and well field to collect relevant documents on its operation, pumping capacity and groundwater quality…Additionally, the participants have collected water samples from all the production wells in Nam Du for stable isotopes (2H, 18O) and 3H determination.
Nam Du water treatment plant is one of the 12 water treatment plants belonging to Hanoi Water Limited Company. Groundwater is pumped from Pleistocene aquifer for treatment and supply. The production wells in Nam Du were drilled along the Red River bank since 2004. They include 20 production wells with the total pumping capacity of 53.000 m3/day. It was of concern that this pumping capacity may lead to increasing infiltration of nutrients and organic matters from the surface water into the aquifer. Therefore, groundwater protection zone delineation for Nam Du well field is very important.
By the end of the training session, all the participants were assigned to compose a report on groundwater protection zone delineation for Nam Du well field. A workshop reporting the results of this exercise is expected to be organized in the coming time.