Training on implementing a survey on the licensed production well in Ca Mau Province

From 13 to 16 November 2018, the Project Improvement of Groundwater Protection in Vietnam (IGPVN) cooperated with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Ca Mau (Ca Mau DONRE) to organized a training course on implementing a survey on licensed production well in Ca Mau Province for the DONRE and sub-DONRE staff.

Originating from the needs of Ca Mau DONRE to have complete and accurate information on the current situation of groundwater production wells in service of management work, especially for implementing new regulations on establishment of hygiene protection zone of domestic water supply well, monitoring and surveillance in water resource exploitation and use, the IGPVN has supported Ca Mau DONRE to set up a plan for implementing a survey on licensed production well in Ca Mau Province, including 8 districts and 1 city; carry out all necessary preparatory work, including: designing survey questionnaires, purchasing equipment needed for survey work, designing detailed guidances for local staff to conduct the survey and designing leaflet to disseminate to well owners. The survey will be implemented by the district staff (sub-DONRE).

The purpose of this training is to help local staff to understand the purpose of well survey, their roles and responsibilities in this survey, the function and operation of equipment and on-site protocol. In addition, during this training, IGPVN Project experts introduced the baseline information on groundwater in Ca Mau, explaining the aquifer system as well as issues related to groundwater exploitation.

During 2 working days, the trainees were introduced basic knowledge about the aquifer system; taught how to use the equipment needed for the survey, including: water level meter, conductivity meter, tablet; introduced and instructed how to collect information to fill in the questionnaire and label the production well. At the same time, the trainees were involved in two pilot surveys in the Ca Mau city, and had good opportunity to carry out all the tasks that were instructed by the IGPVN experts and discussed any problem/situation arising.

A set of necessary equipment and documents including the list of wells to be surveyed, the map of well location and the well labels were handed over to the staff of each district.

The well survey time frame is expected to be about 20 days, starting from 19/11/2018. Under the coordination of Ca Mau DONRE, the staff of sub-DONRE will directly carry out the survey on production wells in their districts. The wells in the Ca Mau city will be taken over by staff of the Ca Mau city sub-DONRE together with staff of the Center for natural resources and environment monitoring under Ca Mau DONRE.