VIE PDA: Developing Appropriate Sanitation Solutions for Peri-Urban Areas (Final Report)

7/26/2019 VIE PDA: Developing Appropriate Sanitation Solutions for Peri-Urban Areas (Final Report)

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Asian Development BankRegional Technical Assistance

TA 6325 REG: Promoting Effective Water Policies and Practices(phase 5) Pilot and Demonstration Activity for Vietnam:

Developing Appropriate Sanitation Solutions for Peri-Urban Areas

in Vietnam

PDA Completion Report

Submitted by EAST VietnamProject manager: Xavier Plaisance

February 24th, 2009

The views expressed in this paper/presentation are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or

policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does

not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their

use. Terminology used may not necessarily be consistent with ADB official terms.


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PDA Completion report February 2009

EAST Vietnam - Non-governmental Organization3B Quc T Gim - ng a - Hanoi Vietnam

Tel/fax: (84-4) 3 732 60 69- Email: [email protected] 2/83

Acknowledgement

The project team would like to thank the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for

providing financial support through its Pilot & Demonstration Activity (PDA)program to promote effective water management policies and practices. We areparticularly thankful to Mr. Hubert Jenny (ADBs Senior Urban DevelopmentSpecialist) and Mr. Antoine Kunth (ADBs Infrastructure Specialist) for their valuablesuggestions, feedback for making this project successful.

We also would like to thank the IMV (Institut des mtiers de la Ville) and theRgion Ile de France for providing additional financial support to complete the

project.

We also wish to thank The Bremen Overseas Research and DevelopmentAssociation (BORDA) for providing technical and financial support, especially forthe construction of the Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System (DEWATS).

We are particularly thankful to Mr. Ha and the whole staff of the PeoplesCommittee of the commune of Kieu Ky, with the assistance of the district of GiaLam, for facilitating administrative procedures such as land acquisition for thetreatment plant. This project would not have been successful without the support oflocal mass organizations and both the craftsmen associations.

We are particularly indebted to Mr. Lam for taking the lead in the community andmaking this project a success.


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Table of Content

Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................ 2

Table of Content........................................................................................................... 3

Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... 5

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 6

Executive summary...................................................................................................... 7

Part I Background and context............................................................................... 8A. Wastewater sanitation, a worldwide challenge............................................. 8B. Project objectives ............................................................................................. 8C. Project area and its relevance......................................................................... 8

1. Overall characteristics ................................................................................. 82. Problems observed ..................................................................................... 10

Part II Methods applied and main outputs.......................................................... 11A. Processes followed and rationale.................................................................. 11B. Main outputs................................................................................................... 13

B. i. Policies and strategies of public authorities......................................... 131. National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Strategy (NRWSSS) upto 2020 ............................................................................................................. 132. Urban areas policies............................................................................... 133. What about Peri-urban districts?.........................................................134. Policies and assistances for craft villages............................................. 14

B. ii. Domestic Wastewater............................................................................ 151. Domestic wastewater management in urban and peri-urban areas inVietnam ........................................................................................................... 15

a) Wastewater characteristics ................................................................... 15b) Wastewater management organization ................................................ 15c) Wastewater disposals and treatment ....................................................16

2. Technical solutions................................................................................. 18a) The opportunity of the decentralized approach ................................... 18

b) Decentralized options available in Vietnam ........................................ 19c) Model to be implemented in Kieu Ky (DEWATS) ............................. 24

3. Discussion on a domestic wastewater treatment model...................... 28a) Management and operation model ....................................................... 28

b) Financial and implementation issues ................................................... 31B. iii. Crafts workshops wastewater........................................................... 321. Kieu Kys current situation...................................................................32

a) Arrangement and evolution of crafts activities .................................... 32b) Analysis and pollution risks ................................................................. 33

2. Crafts gathering zones, a solution promoted by the PCH.................. 343. Solutions to be proposed........................................................................ 35

a) Serigraphys wastewater treatment system ..........................................35b) Smoke treatment system for gold leave workshops ............................. 36


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C. Limitations and non accomplishments........................................................ 37

Part III Project outputs and lessons learned........................................................ 38A. DEWATS for domestic wastewater treatment - Scope of replication....... 38B. Major lessons learned .................................................................................... 41C. Project management ...................................................................................... 42

1. Costs and financing................................................................................ 422. Implementation schedule....................................................................... 423. Monitoring system................................................................................. 42

Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 44

Appendix 1. Maps of the project area ................................................................ 45

Appendix 2. Crafts activities mapping.............................................................. 46

Appendix 3. Financial statement........................................................................ 49

Appendix 4. Activities schedule......................................................................... 50

Appendix 5. Contracts and agreements........................................................... 51

Appendix 6. Photographs ..................................................................................... 76

Sources ........................................................................................................................ 82


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Abbreviations

ABR (or BAST): Anaerobic Baffle Reactor (or Baffle Anaerobic Septic Tank)

ADB: Asian Development BankAF: Anaerobic FilterBOD: Biological Oxygen DemandBORDA: Bremen Overseas Research and Development AssociationCEETIA1: Centre for Environmental Engineering of Towns and IndustrialAreasCRIF: [FR] Conseil Rgional dIle de FranceCOD: Chemical Oxygen DemandCW: Constructed WetlandsDEWATS: Decentralized Wastewater Treatment SystemEA: Executive Agency (EAST Vietnam)EAST: [FR] Eau Agriculture et Sant en milieu TropicalHGF: Horizontal Gravel FilterHSDC: Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage CompanyHWC: Hanoi Water CompanyIEC: Information Education CommunicationIMV: [FR] Institut des Mtiers de la VilleINEST: Institute for Environmental Science and TechnologyLoA: Letter of AgreementMoC: Ministry of ConstructionMARD: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentMoU: Memorandum of UnderstandingNGO: Non Governmental Organization

NRWSSS: National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation StrategyO&M: Operation and MaintenancePCc: People Committee of the communePCd: People Committee of the districtPCH: People Committee of HanoiPDA: Pilot and Demonstration ActivitySC: Service of ConstructionSESGL: Sanitation and Environment Society of Gia LamTN: Total NitrogenTP: Total PhosphorusTSS: Total Suspended SolidsTUPWS: Transports and Urban Public Works Service

URENCO: Urban Environment Company(R)WSS: (Rural) Water Supply and SanitationWTP: Willingness To Pay

In that paper, the prices in Vietnam Dong (VND) have been converted into Americandollar (US$) taken into account the conversion rate at 1 US$ = 16,500 VND

1CEETIA has been recently renamed IESEwhich stands for Institute for Environmental Sciences andEngineering


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Introduction

1. Since the 80s, Vietnam has undergone a great economic rising. Through theinfluence of the capital, peri-urban areas are directly affected and gather defects ofindustrial development such as big infrastructures, industries, landfills, etc. With the

current population growth which tends to increase, peri-urban areas face more andmore sanitary and environmental problems but public authorities do not considerthose as a priority. Therefore, the current development model tends to give the

preference to the image of the capital and takes no further interest in peri-urbanareas. A sustainable approach would try to minimize the differences between urbanand peri-urban, thus considering integrated solutions in construction planning tosolve environmental issues. Kieu Ky, located at 20 km downstream the urbancenter, is directly affected by urban wastewater. Moreover, a landfill collecting thewhole amount of districts solid wastes is located less than 1 km from Kieu KysHouses and increases the risk of pollution. Witnesses of those pollution impacts,residents show their worries about surface water and do not use it for human needsanymore.

2. Besides, Kieu Ky is considered as a traditional crafts village for its specializedskills in gold leaves production for religious ornamentation, a unique profession

practiced in the village for 300 years. When this traditional work slowed down(owing to a lower demand), the craftsmen started to develop other crafts activitiessuch as bags production. Nowadays, the commune includes numerous kinds ofcrafts activities, among those some require obsolete methods and practices.Environment preservation has a little influence in comparison with practicalarguments for high productivity, essential to workshops economic survival.Conscious that Northern Vietnam crafts villages represent a huge potential ofeconomic income, Vietnamese Government has taken these recurrent problems intoconsideration but few efficient solutions have been yet elaborated.

3. Since 2006, the commune of Kieu Ky has benefited from the water supply andsanitation program carried out by the partnership between the Conseil RgionaldIle de France (CRIF) and Hanoi Peoples Committee (HPC). During the summer2006, the French NGO EAST Vietnam was contracted to assess the local needs andto make a proposal for water supply, sanitation and solid waste. Following theserecommendations, a project consisting in connecting the commune to Hanoismunicipality water supply network is nowadays in progress. Concerning sanitation,this PDA will provide further information and practical solutions to be implementedand replicated.

4. The water policy of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) promotes national

water sector reforms, integrated water resources management, and better waterservices for the poors. The Cooperation Fund for the Water Sector (CFWS) is amulti-agency umbrella facility aiming at promoting effective water management

policies and practices at the regional level, and thereby catalyzes theimplementation of ADBs water policy in the Asia and Pacific region. Under theCFWS, ADB manages a Pilot and Demonstration Activities (PDA) program inorder improve its competences and knowledge for the Regional TechnicalAssistance for Promoting Effective Water Management Policies and Practices(RETA 6325).


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5. In accordance with the Transports and Urban Public Works Service (TUPWS)of Hanoi, the ADB allocated funds to EAST Vietnam to manage a PDA forDeveloping Appropriate Sanitation Solution for Peri-Urban Areas in Vietnam, asdefined in the Letter of Agreement (LoA) signed on March 24th, 2008. Besides,EAST bound its activities with the Bremen Overseas Research and Development

Association (BORDA), a German NGO specialized in decentralized wastewatertreatment systems, towards the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) on December 12th, 2007.

Executive summary

6. Based on initial surveys, the project found out that the actual sanitary andenvironmental situation of Kieu Ky could not match real residents needs. Thecommonly accepted septic tank is the system the most liable to spread out but itrevealed not enough efficient for peri-urban areas. Considering the lack of formalinstitutions for wastewater sector in Vietnam, the PDA aimed at finding a solutionable to fill these gaps. Thus, it has got a deep interest in decentralized alternativeswhich are too often forgotten. It found out that some solutions are available inHanoi and that residents would participate for their implementation and O&M,especially the combination BASTAF (Baffled Anaerobic Septic Tank & Anaerobic

Filters) + CW (Constructed Wetlands). The EA jointed its works to the NGOBORDA in order to demonstrate in concrete terms the suitability of suchtechnology, technically, financially and institutionally speaking. Based on localcommunity management, this pilot plant will be able to collect the wastewater of 60households for a total investment of US$ 31,000 granted by the ADB (US$ 10,000),BORDA (US$ 14,000) and IMV (US$ 7,000). The PDA has also been interested incrafts wastewater treatment and solutions have been elaborated in collaboration ofINEST.


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Part I Background and context

A. Wastewater sanitation, a worldwide challenge

7. According to the United Nations statistics, 2.6 billion people around the world

lack a basic sanitation installation. Human feces are the primary source of diarrheicpathogens. Additionally, worm infections impair childrens health, nutrition andcognitive development. Nowadays, water-borne diseases are directly or indirectlythe primary cause of mortality throughout the world2. Recognizing the importanceof sanitation to the overall achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, theUnited Nations declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.

8. In Vietnam, the discharge via a sewer or drain to a river is often chosen as aneasy solution: the out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach. However, this directly affectsdownstream water environment and communities, with accumulated effects whichmay only be observed after many years. Thus, peri-urban are particularly touched,with an increasing population which currently faces important health threat.

B. Project objectives

9. In Vietnamese urban and peri-urban areas, the current decentralized approachthrough on-site sanitation, such as dry latrines or septic tanks has to be improvedand upscaled. The PDA seeks to develop a sanitation model for peri-urban areas ofVietnam. More specifically it focuses on primarily surveys in order to select anappropriate collection and treatment systems and assess their scope of replicability.The PDA partly relies on field experience and includes the implementation of a pilottreatment package able to collect domestic wastewater issued from 60 households.

C. Project area and its relevance

Cf.appendix 1 Maps of the project area.

1. Overall characteristics

10. Located on the east side of the Red River, Gia lam district undergoes theinfluence of the fast economic development of the capital. Therefore, signs of peri-urbanization process are perceivable such as fast population growth (around 2.2%for the last two years), enhancement of industrial implantation, high GDP growth,

better accommodation and living standards, etc. Therefore, Kieu Ky follows theeconomic trend of the district (GDP growth rate at 14.5% in 2007) and sees its

population increasing (2.3% for the last two years and 3.4% for the ten last years,Cf. diagram 1). The economic revenues of the commune are (i) 30% fromagriculture, (ii) 60% from crafts and industries and (iii) 10% from trade and

2According to the UN


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services. But still, even if it is decreasing, Kieu Ky has a rural lifestyle andagriculture employs more than 40% of the working population3.

Demography - Kieu Ky - Gia Lam

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

11000

12000

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Inhabitants

Diagram 1.Chart of Kieu Kys population evolution from 1999 to 20084

Yearly household income distribution (Kieu Ky - Sept08)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

50,000

,000

andmore

VND

%

Diagram 2. Yearly household income distribution (Kieu Ky 2008)

3Annual socio-economic report 2007, People Committee of the commune of Kieu Ky, 15/12/2007

4Data collected from annual demography report of the PCc


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11. With an average of 28,100,000 VND (equivalent to US$34/pers/month) (Cf.diagram 2), household yearly income ranges from 10,000,000 to 50,000,000 withtwo peaks which might represent poor households and rural middle class,respectively VND 1,250,000 (US$ 76) and VND 2,900,000 (US$ 177) per month.These incomes are still lower than the national average which amounts at yearly16,500,000 VND (US$ 1000 or US$ 83/pers/month)5 per person, or yearly

69,300,000 VND per household. Nevertheless, 12% of the respondents areconsidered poor households as per the national standard on poverty in rural areasstating the threshold of poverty at 200,000 VND 6(US$ 12) per person per month,or 10,000,000 VND per year per household. Despite higher incomes than in otherrural areas, only 23% of the sample asserts that they are able to save between2,000,000 and 10,000,000 VND a year7.

2. Problems observed

12. In Gia Lam, public urban services are still very limited especially in ruralcommunes such as Kieu Ky. Thus, people are left to evacuate wastewater out of theliving area by themselves. Previous surveys showed that 60% of the population own

a septic tank and 40% have dry latrines while grey wastewater is directly dischargedinto the environment. This situation is very representative of other peri-urban smalltowns areas. This paper will show that Kieu Kys actual sanitation systems is nomore able to deal with human pollution and has to be upgraded. Considering theactual population growth in such areas, the human and environmental impacts will

become more and more significant and the solutions to be implemented more andmore expensive.

13. What is more, Kieu Ky counts two particularities which increase sanitary andenvironmental risks. First of all, the presence of a landfill and composting plantcollecting the solid waste from the whole district of Gia Lam and formerly alsofrom a part of urban districts. Located less than one kilometer from inhabitations, itis 80 tons of wastes which are buried every day without an efficient control of theenvironmental impacts by the authorities. For example, because of the lack of a

proper treatment system, leachate is directly discharged into the nearby river.Secondly, Kieu Ky is considered as a traditional crafts village like hundreds other inthe Red River delta. It means that at least 35% of the active population does craftsactivities such as serigraphy, paper recycling or gold leaves production usingoutdated methods and equipments. The current sanitary practices are indeed a realthreat for workers and environment. Residents are then exposed to major sanitaryrisks, especially for those who work in rice fields where domestic and craftswastewater is drained.

5Annual socio-economic report - 2008, Vietnamese Government, 16/10/08. (2007 : national averageincome = US$ 820/year per person)6Government poverty standard for the period 2006-2010 (decision 170/2005/QD-TTg on 08/07/2005)7EAST Vietnam (August 2008). Socio-economic survey among the population on their ability andwillingness to pay (WTP) for improved wastewater sanitation, survey conducted under this PDA. Hereenclosed


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Part II Methods applied and main outputs

A. Processes followed and rationale

14. Based on initial surveys, the project discusses about technical, institutional andfinancial models for domestic and crafts wastewater treatment and testes themthrough the implementation of a pilot plant treating domestic wastewater. The initialsurveys aimed at determining the institutional and legislative frameworks as well asthe sanitary and technical situation. These data were used to understand what thelacks of current installations. The work tried to find out what the opportunities ofother non trade but available solutions are in urban and peri-urban context fordomestic and crafts wastewater, with an especial regard on decentralized concept.Then, the project assessed the affordability of residents and craftsmen throughstudies about their willingness to pay for appropriate improved wastewatertreatment systems. At the same time, a pilot decentralized treatment plant has beenimplemented to investigate the applicability of a domestic wastewater sanitationmodel regarding institutional, financial and technical issues. This paper finallygathers all these data to draw the lessons learned from the demonstration activitiesand assess the scope of replication of the model. (Cf. table 1).

15. On April 2008, a working group has been settled, gathering the local relevantauthorities involved in the Water Supply and Sanitation program of Kieu Ky (Cf.diagram 12 for its members composition). During the first meeting, EAST explainedthe PDAs objectives and each partners committed to facilitate the implementationof the project.


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B. Main outputs

B. i. Policies and strategies of public authorities

1. National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Strategy (NRWSSS) up

to 2020

16. Since year 2000, the Vietnamese Government has agreed the NRWSSS whichestablishes objectives to be achieved in the RWSS field, split in two steps: 2000 2010 and 2010 2020. The objectives state as follow:

- by 2010: 85% of the population shall have access to clean water with anmonthly consumption of 60 L/per./day and 70% of the population shall haveaccess to improved hygienic latrines in accordance with national standards;

- by 2020: 100% of the population shall have access to clean water andimproved hygienic latrines in accordance with national standards.

17. The NRWSSS specifies sanitations objectives only regarding black wastewaterby promoting the construction of improved latrines such as double vault or septictanks. It does not mention any requirement neither for septic tank outflow nor forgrey wastewater which still contain a large amount of pathogens and pollutants.

18. One will notice that the NRWSSS is a demand-based approach and advocateson socialization of RWSS, which involves that users will have to decide for the typeof RWSS facilities and pay for their construction as well as for O&M. Concerningsanitation, the NRWSSS promotes individual equipments and thus enhances the factthat the responsibility for wastewater management is left to local residents.

19. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) assessed the

achievement of these objectives will amount around 4.8 billions US$ of which oneis funded by the State and international organizations and the rest by local residents

2. Urban areas policies

20. Under the national orientations for environment and WSS promulgated by theGovernment, the major cities have their own strategy regarding WSS. Hanoi planedits own targets up to 2020 as follow:

- by 2010: 70-80% of domestic wastewater shall be pre-treated before beingdischarged and 100% of wastewater from industries and hospitals shall treatedand rejected in accordance with the national standards;

- by 2020: The combined sewers shall be extended to the whole city and all

domestic wastewater shall be treated in centralized treatment plant.

3. What about Peri-urban districts?

21. Given the 14 districts of formerly Ha Tay, recently (2008) annexed by theprovince of Hanoi, there are now 19 non urban districts with a strong ruraltendency. These areas are highly influenced by urban activities and consequentlyundergo a faster development than other rural areas. However, though they arerelevant to the province and national strategies, they are not yet considered as a


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priority by the actual urban policies and thereby they should follow the NRWSSSwhich might not be appropriate to peri-urban districts, especially concerningwastewater management issues. Management of domestic wastewater issues is thenlocally arranged.

4. Policies and assistances for craft villages

22. Since the beginning of the years 2000, the Government has published manydecrees and decisions aiming at the global development of rural professions. TheMARD and respective provinces are liable for planning and monitoring strategies.Crafts villages, as they represent a significant part of rural professions in Vietnam,are specifically mentioned as beneficiaries of these public assistance policies. Underthe Governments directives on rural profession development, national and

provincial programs and strategies arose and aim at supporting, promoting and evencreating crafts activities. Contrary to their former philosophy, Vietnameseauthorities became aware of the potential of traditional crafts villages regarding theeconomic transition and decided to foster their development.

23. Globally, Vietnamese Governmental and provincial policies concerning craftsvillages development include environment issues. Thereby, the MARD is on theway of achieving its program for crafts villages development and preservationwhich determines objectives to be reached during the period 2008-2010 and thoseuntil 2020. This program might include a cooperation framework for internationalorganizations, especially in the field of WSS. In 2002, the Vietnamese Governmentalso set up the Vietnam Environment Protection Fund (VEPF) which can be raisedfor crafts villages sustainable development through environmental projects.

24. Despite numerous programs and projects aim at crafts villages developmentsupported by the Government and the provinces, the majority does not focus onmain craftsmen needs. For example, nothing can help them for the grant of a loan8

or a piece of land to enlarge their activities. The assistance provided by the Stateand the province, rather small, is indeed more appropriate for small and mediumenterprise than for craftsmen workshops.

25. Given about a thousand crafts villages in the Red River delta, The PeopleCommittee of Hanoi (PCH) agreed in 2001 to construct crafts industry zones out ofresidential areas for several crafts villages. These projects mainly aim at (i) reducingthe environmental threat by gathering all the pollution sources and (ii) promotingcrafts and industrial activities. Seven villages have been chosen in order toimplement pilot projects to be replicated to many other crafts villages. Probably dueto the mitigated success of the first pilot crafts industry area achieved in Bat Trang

(village of pottery in Gia Lam) in 2007, the other projects seem to be stopped.Indeed, the case showed that the design and the rationale of this kind of projectmight not respect the traditional and social organization of the village which is the

basis of the crafts villages economic functioning.

8Most crafts workshops are not registered (in Kieu Ky, only 4% of gold leaves craftsmen areregistered), thus not eligible for public assistance. Moreover, they cannot afford to secure a debt bymortgage.


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B. ii. Domestic Wastewater

1. Domestic wastewater management in urban and peri-urban areas inVietnam

a) Wastewater characteristics

26. According the HWC (Hanois Water Company), at the end of its five-year plan,the water consumption reached 145 l/per./day and will range 170 L/per./day by2010 in urban areas. Vietnamese standards state the water consumption for watersupply systems design at 150L/per./day by 2020 in residential periurban areas 9.Taken into account that 80% of that amount is discharged as wastewater, itrepresents 120L/per./day to be treated. Recent studies10 showed that greywastewater in the province of Hanoi (urban and peri-urban areas) represents 68-90%of total domestic wastewater rejections and contains up to 50% of total COD as wellas high loads in phosphorus. As they are directly discharged into the environment,those pollutants are an important source of aquatic ecosystems eutrophicationcausing their balance upset.

b) Wastewater management organization

27. In Vietnamese urban areas, domestic wastewater drainage and treatmentresponsibilities belong to the Municipalities authorities through their public-privatecompanies such as HSDC (Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Company) in Hanoi. Inthe main cities and provincial towns, common sewerage and drainage has been

partly installed since the late nineties. According to the director of HSDC11, Hanoidischarges every day between 450,000 to 510,000 m3of wastewater including fromhospital, industries and domestic activities. However, the company does not have atthe present the resources to handle the whole amount of wastewater and covers only60% of the urban area. Actually, their scope of work is mainly focused on operation

and maintenance of the urban centers drainage and sewers facilities. For the tertiarynetwork in the inner city and the whole sewerage network in other areas,responsibility for service provision is taken on by local authorities or under self-

provision by local residents.

28. Management of wastewater systems is performed at the commune level in peri-urban areas. It is divided into two levels. For the construction of lines along themain roads of the commune, the PCd approves the PCcs proposal and design andallocates budget for the construction. Maintenance of those lines is usually theresponsibility of commune itself. For smaller lines, the hamlet submits its proposaland gets approval from the PCc which allocates a part of the budget. The budget

balance is mobilized by local residents. Construction for both cases is implemented

by private constructors and maintenance is assured by communitys labor.Therefore, the local community leaders play a vital role to get the populationinvolved in sewer cleaning, site clearance, etc.

9Vietnamese standard for works design TCXDVN 33_0610

Characteristic and quantity of domestic wastewater in urban and peri-urban areas of Hanoi ,newspaper Quy hoach Xy dng (Construction planning), 20/06/06, pages 80-8211Interviewed in the newspaperLao Dongon 26/06/08


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29. In the district of Gia Lam, there is a public Sanitation and Environment Society(SESGL) which takes in charge the maintenance of sewers in the major cities andKieu Ky, since the presence of the landfill. However, the main work of the societyconsists in solid wastes management and its capability is at the present very limitedin the field of wastewater management.

c) Wastewater disposals and treatment Individual treatment in rural and peri-urban areas

30. Nowadays in Vietnam, if black wastewater is often pre-treated in householdsseptic tank, grey wastewater is directly discharged in the combined sewers.Moreover, the national baseline survey conducted by UNICEF/MoH in 200612

showed that 75% of rural population owns latrines but only 18% has access tolatrines meeting MoH hygienic standards13, thereby highlighting the low percentageof adequate black wastewater sanitation system in Vietnam, especially in rural, peri-urban and poor urban areas. In Kieu Ky, the surveys conducted through this PDAshowed a higher coverage but a similar tendency with 97% (of which 60% septictanks, 31% dry latrines and 3% no latrine) of latrines coverage and only 25% of

systems following the MoH regulations14.

31. At the time of the survey on crafts wastewater, laboratory tests were carried outby INEST to appreciate Kieu Kys water body characteristics through commonsewers and surface water samples. The chemical analysis elicited concentrationshigher than values allowed by Vietnamese standards for wastewater rejection (Cf.table 2 and 3 below). We noticed, besides, that common collection channels areusually not well designed and not enough sloping, so suspended solids (SS) cansettle into the sewers (that explains low rate of TSS within the samples incomparison with COD) which produce unpleasant smell. To a certain extend, thelaboratory tests confirm the presence of pollution from domestic activities probablydue to a lack of efficient wastewater treatment in Kieu Ky. That could involve moreand more sanitary risks for the population, especially in peri-urban residential areaswhere the density is raising.

Parameters Unit Sample 1(wastewater

from Mr. Le

Dinh Binhshouse)

Sample 2(Common

open sewer

in Kieu Kyhamlet)

Sample 3(Common open

sewer upstream

of theforthcoming

DEWATS)

TCVN5945-2005

level B

pH - 7.74 8.04 7.15 5.5 9BOD5(20

oC) mg/L 125 80 45 50COD mg/L 387 191 182 80

TSS mg/l 26 35 30 100Ammonium (NH4

+) mg/L 24.27 33.52 35.12 10Table 2.Extract of wastewater analysis in Kieu Kys common sewers, July 200815

12National environmental sanitation and hygiene practice baseline survey, MoH/UNICEF, 2006

13National standards on hygienic latrines (08/2005/QD-BYT), issued by MoH in March 200514EAST Vietnam (2008).Investigation on current wastewater disposals and practics in the communeof Kieu Ky. Herewith enclosed15Pr. Dr. Dang Kim Chi (August 2008).Report of current environmental condition in Kieu Kyhandicraft village, survey conducted under this PDA by experts of INEST. Herewith enclosed


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Parameters Unit Sample 1(ditch at

Kieu Ky

bridge)

Sample 2(Cau Bay

river)

Sample 3(Bac Hung

Hai river)

Sample 4(before the

confluence

of Cau Bayand Bac

Hung Hai))

Sample 5(Intersection

of Bac Hung

Hai and adrain in Xuan

Thuy)

TCVN5942-1995

level B

pH - 7.47 9.04 8.12 8.51 7.93 5.5 9BOD5(20

oC) mg/L 45 35 30 40 25 25COD mg/L 105 86 68 86 45 35TSS mg/L 175 20 18 39 106 80Coliform MPN/100mL 5x104 5,000 3,000 2,400 2.4x106 104

Table 3.Extract of surface water analysis in Kieu Ky, July 2008

Centralized management and treatment in urban areas

32. Centralized wastewater management has been the norm in municipalengineering circles for many years. Based on the Pipe it away first, then thinkabout what comes next philosophy, centralized management is the structure ofchoice in most cities and countries. The Municipality of Hanoi has followed thatmodel and implemented towards Japanese cooperation funds two pilot centralized

plants under operation since 2005 which treat approximately 5% of the whole urbanwastewater amount. According to Mr. Dung, general manager of the plants, evenwith a high quality screening system, only 70% of solid waste issued from thecombined sewers is filtered and the rest hinders the good functioning of technicalequipments. Despite these difficulties, the CPH decided to follow up the wastewatertreatment program and started its second phase based on the same model with anambitious projects of 3 centralized wastewater treatment plants aiming at treatingrespectively 200,000 m3/day, 135,000 m3/day and 21,000 m3/day funded by

Japanese and Malaysians. In addition to those observed in both Hanoi pilot plants,there are a number of disadvantages in centralized wastewater management systems,especially with combined system. Combining all kinds of wastewaters andoccasionally rain water leads to a highly complex mixture and a wide variety of

pollutants widely varying in composition and concentration. Thus, effective removalof pollutants becomes difficult and very expensive. What is more, in an area highlyconcentrated such as Hanoi, the costs for sewer installation are equal or higher thanthose fore treatment facilities. The O&M works also involve a significant amount ofmoney and high skilled staff, especially in flat areas where pumping stations andmore constant maintenance are required. Inadequate operation and maintenancewould lead to sewer clogging, local flooding, pipe leaks, treatment process failure,etc.

The septic tank, a general trend with low treatment efficiency

33. Even though dry sanitation systems remain still used, most urban and peri-urbanhouseholds use water based sanitation systems, mostly septic tanks. The septic tankis a watertight covered receptacle, including two or three compartments where twomain processes take place, the settling of the solids and digestion of some of theaccumulated organic matters. The septic tank is institutionally well established inVietnam as a domestic wastewater treatment. As per actual building regulations,


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new houses must be equipped with a septic tank. In order to ensure a goodconstruction quality, Ministry of Construction (MoC) issued in 1999 a new

plumbing code where the design and technical requirements for the septic tank aredefined. The ongoing development of technical guidelines for the design,construction and O&M shows clearly that the septic tank plays a dominant role atthe present and in the future as well.

34. Unfortunately in practice, septic tanks reveal low treatment efficiency and thusdo not contribute as expected to urban environment. In 1998 and 1999, severalstudies carried out in Hanoi and Hai Phong showed that septic tanks treatmentefficiency is very low, with effluents BOD and COD concentrations values in therange of untreated domestic wastewater. From the Ministry of Construction, mostseptic tanks are inadequately designed (inadequate shape and capacity), improperlyconstructed (inappropriate materials, unstable, permeable) and low maintained.Indeed, most units have never been desludged, even those which are more than 30years old16.

35. The field investigations highlighted that local construction skills are quite

limited in sanitation. Local workers knowledge is exclusively empiric and does notmatch real needs. For example, septic tanks are often over designed in comparisonwith national prescriptions. It involves a construction price increase and does notfollow a sustainable approach. Besides, except the SESGL, there is no privatesludge removal company in the district. It means that there is not yet a demand forsuch service, even with 60% of the residents owing a septic tank. This configurationmight be similar in many other peri-urban districts in Vietnam. It reveals a generallack of awareness and knowledge concerning the necessity of septic tank emptying.

36. Last but not least, the septic tank is a good opportunity for domestic wastewatertreatment with the provision that it is combined with post treatment equipmentssuch as leaching fields. Indeed, even well designed and constructed, the septic tankalone would not be able to achieve an effluent meeting the Vietnamese standardsrequirements, especially concerning coliforms and ammonium concentrations. Inurban and peri-urban areas, the ground is waterproof, thus hindering pretreatedwastewater from septic tanks to infiltrate. The wastewater pathogens and annoyancestay in contact with the locals.

2. Technical solutions

a) The opportunity of the decentralized approach

37. If we look at the geographic organization of Kieu Ky, we notice that it is

constituted by several clustered villages far from each others. Nevertheless, each ofthem has got an increasingly high population density, around 15,000 inhabitants persquare kilometer. This situation is very representative of peri-urban areas, especiallyfor crafts villages. For such extended draining zones, the centralized approach is not

profitable and then not conceivable. On the other hand, given the high residents

16Viet Anh N., Nga Pham Thuy, Tran Hieu, Morel Antoine (2005). The potential of decentralizedwastewater management for sustainable development a Vietnamese experience, presented at theWater Environmental Federation (WEF) 2005, 28 31 August 2005, San Francisco, CA, USA


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concentration, common local systems might be very convenient, technically andfinancially.

38. This project has been interested in developing alternative concepts, moreappropriate to these kinds of area. The decentralized concept is based on one simple

premise: wastewater should be treated (and reused, if possible) as close to where it

emerges as practical. The choice of the appropriate technology will depend onseveral factors such as composition of wastewater, availability of land, availabilityof funds and expertise. In developed countries, decentralized systems are mostlyused for domestic wastewater from private isolated households and some industrialwastewater. As they are not restricted to merely manage individual users systems,they can close the gap between on-site systems and the conventional centralizedsystem. Therefore, decentralized wastewater treatment can range in size fromindividual on-site systems to shared facilities. The treatment steps may also be

physically separated, combining on-site and cooperative treatment, mostly unitingwastewater streams after individual primarily treatment and specific treatment ifrequired (e. g. hazardous industrial wastewater). A major advantage of decentralizedapproach is the small distance between the place of origin of wastewater and

treatment facilities, thus reducing the need of high qualified design engineering,sewerage maintenance, environmental risks (no wastewater less concentrated, lessleaks from the piping system, etc.) and investments costs. Last but not least, thedecentralized solution is more sustainable in the long run because existing pipingwill not need to be torn up in order to increase the treatment capacity. Systemextension can be done by implementing new treatment facilities package as well asits collecting piping network rather than continuously increasing the flow to existingfacilities.

b) Decentralized options available in Vietnam

39. Treatment processes are mainly based on systems including aerobic (presenceof oxygen) and/or anaerobic (absence of oxygen) treatment steps: (i) sedimentationand primary treatment, (ii) secondary treatment with biological processes and (iii)disinfection and tertiary treatment for special specifications. According towastewater characteristics, different systems are usually combined. Hybrid systemsor a combination of primary and/or secondary on-site treatment andsecondary/tertiary cooperative treatment is also possible.

40. As mentioned above, the septic tank is the usual pretreatment facility inVietnam. Thus, among the wide variety of decentralized treatment systems, this

paper has been technically rather interested in complementary secondary andtertiary treatment components. Speaking of decentralized treatment concepts for

domestic wastewater, low maintenance and low energy or chemicals requirementswill preferably be applied, as shortcomings are still the lack of skilled staff and lackof investments in developing countries.


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The Anaerobic Baffle Reactor (ABR) or Baffle Anaerobic Septic Tank (BAST)

41. The ABR is roughly an upgrade of the septic tank which uses series of baffles toforce the wastewater to flow under and over the baffles from the inlet to the outlet

of the tank. It enables stronger contact between the wastewater and sludge blanket,thereby a better digestion. It is suitable for all kinds of wastewater, preferably forthose with percentage of non-settleable (colloidal matters), suspended solids andlow COD/BOD ratio.

Diagram 3.Scheme of anaerobic baffle reactor

The Anaerobic Filters (AF)

42. AF are usually implemented for wastewater with a low content of suspendedsolids (TSS). It suits preferably to refine a primary or secondary treatment becauseit permits reduce efficiently non-settleable and dissolved solids by bringing them inclose contact with an active biomass fixed to filter materials or the reactor walls.

The AF treatment removal is less efficient than ABR processes but they play animportant role in retaining solids in the tank.

Diagram 4.Scheme of anaerobic filters


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Constructed Wetlands (CW)

43. CW consist in creating poorly drained soils with wetlands flora and fauna, thusreconstituting wetlands natural self purification abilities. They are used forwastewater with a low TSS content and COD concentration. The large variety oftrophic levels of organisms living in enables a wider scope of treatment such as

nitrogen compounds reduction, pathogen removal or even some heavy metalsremoval, depending on plants and design. There are two main basic systemarrangements which may be numbered among CW: (i) vertical flow filter and (ii)horizontal flow filter.

Diagram 5.Scheme of constructed wetlands (Horizontal Gravel Filter, HGF)

Anaerobic ponds

44. Anaerobic conditions are maintained through the depth of the pond, therefore aminimum depth of 2 m is necessary. Anaerobic ponds are efficient for medium and

highly organic load. Highly loaded anaerobic may function as an open septic tank. Itshould then be smaller but deeper enabling the development of a sealing scum layer.Prior to the formation of scum, strong unpleasant odor are emitted. Anaerobic pondtreatment is usually upgraded by later aerobic pond treatment.

Diagram 6.Scheme of anaerobic pond


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Aerobic pond

45. Aerobic ponds efficiency relies on natural oxygen intake via the water surfaceas well as from photosynthetic activity of algae. Therefore, the equilibrium oftrophic cycles has to be carefully preserved. Performance of aerobic ponds may belargely influenced by temperature, surface turbulence, rain, pollution load and might

consequently not be appropriate to treat wastewater directly issued from householdswithout pretreatment. Efficiency in organic matters removal of aerobic processes ishowever higher than anaerobic. In addition, aerobic ponds are particularly adequatein pathogen removal.

Diagram 7.Scheme of aerobic pond

Combination systems and adequacy in Vietnam

46. As above-mentioned in options description, these components are usually notimplemented alone but judiciously and complementary used together, according totheir intrinsic characteristics and functioning as well as treatment needs and localconstraints. Given septic tanks inability to achieve effluent meeting the nationalstandards, the Centre for Environmental Engineering of Towns and Industrial Areas

(CEETIA) conducted in Hanoi from 2002 to 2005 many laboratory experiments andpilot projects to assess the reliability of ABR and AF. The results showed that thosetreatment facilities can significantly improve the efficiency of septic tank withoutsuch a big price increase. However, the surveys revealed also that anaerobic-basedtreatment devices such as ABR or AF can not reach Vietnamese standards andrequire a post-treatment component, especially concerning TN, TP and pathogens.That is the reason why CEETIA investigated in 2006 the suitability of CW for post-treatment of ABR and AF17 and showed its effluent quality conformity with thenational standards.

47. On the newspaper The Constructor (7/2006), under the MoC, a surveyproposed to use ponds systems (anaerobic pond followed by aerobic pond) with

reuse of wastewater (fish and sea weed farming) as a rural domestic wastewatertreatment model.18

17Viet Anh N., Nga Thuy Pham, Thang Huu N., Antoine Morel and Karin Tonderski (2007). Improvedseptic tank with constructed wetland, a promising decentralized wastewater treatment alternative inVietnam, presented at the National On-site Wastewater Recycling Associations (NORWA) 16 th

Annual Technical Education Conference and Exposition organized jointly with the International WaterAssociation (IWA) (March 10-14, 2007 Baltimore, MD, USA)18 www.moc.gov.vn


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EASTVietnam

February2009

23/83

PDAcompletionreport

AnaerobicBaff

leReactor

(ABR

)

AnaerobicFilter(AF)

ConstructedWetlands

(CW)

Anaerobicpond

Aerobicpond

Tr

eatment

processes

Anaerobic

Anaerobic

-Facultative-anaerobic

-Aerobic

-Pathogenremoval

-Decantation

-Anaerobic

-Aerobic

-Pathogenremoval

Tr

eatmentstep

secondarytreatm

ent

secondarytreatment

secondary/tertiarytreatm

ent

secondarytreatment

secondary/tertiarytreatment

Ki

ndof

wa

stewater

tre

ated

Pretreateddomesticand

industrialwastew

aterwith

lowCOD/BODratio

Pretreateddomestic

and

industrialwastewate

rwith

lowCOD/BODratio

Domesticandweakly

pollutedindustrial

wastewaterafterremovalof

seattleableandcolloidal

solidsbypretreatment

Heavilyandmedium

polluteddomesticand

industrialwastewater

Weaklypolluteddomestic

andindustrialwastewater

afterremovalofseattleable

andcolloidalsolidsby

pretreatment

Ad

vantages

Simpleandd

urable

Hightreatme

nt

efficiency

Littlepermanentspace

requiredbecauseof

underground

construction

Hardlyblock

age

Relativelych

eap

Simpleanddurableif

wastewaterhasb

een

properlypretreated

Littlepermanent

space

requiredbecause

underground

construction

Hightreatmenteffici

ency

Noodornuisance

Pleasantlandscaping

possible

Simpleandcheap

inconstruction

Lowmaintenance

requirements

Flexibleregarding

organicload

Simpleinconstruction

Hightreatmentefficiency

Highpathogenremoval

rate

Pleasantlandscaping

Odorlessifproperly

design

Fishfarmingpossibleif

enoughlarge

Disadvantages

Requireslargerplace

forconstruction

Lessefficien

twith

weakwastew

ater

Longerstart-upphase

thananaerob

icfilter

Blockageoffilte

r

possible

Highpermanentspac

e

required

Costlyiffiltermaterialis

notlocallyavailable

Technicalconstructio

n

andmaintenancerequired

Wastewaterpond

occupiesopen

areas

Presenceofbad

odorand

mosquitoes

Verylargepermanent

spacerequired

Odorandmosquitoescan

becomeanuisanceif

systemfailure

Goodfunctioningrelies

onparametersdifficultto

control

Table4.Advantagesanddisadvantagesofdecentralizedwastewater

treatmentmodules


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EAST Vietnam - Non-governmental Organization

3B Quc T Gim - ng a - Hanoi VietnamTel/fax: (84-4) 3 732 60 69- Email: [email protected] 24/83

c) Model to be implemented in Kieu Ky (DEWATS)

Technical arrangements

48. The project is particularly interested in models replicable in peri-urban areas.

Due to the high speculation on land and its low availability in peri-urban areas, weopted for intensive technologies like those combining ABR and/or AF and/or CW.Then, the first question is the choice for the type of collection system, since it willlargely influence the treatment modules to be implemented. Intuitionally, given suchan economic context, we would suggest to use existing common open sewers.However, for this pilot plant many reasons oriented us to choose the separate pipesolution. The most relevant is to prevent rainwater from entering the treatmentdevices, thus (i) minimizing their size and land requirement; (ii) preventing craftsworkshops wastewater from entering the plant; (iii) preventing anaerobic bacteriaflush out, especially in ABR; (iv) preventing solid waste and sediments carried bystorm water from entering the plant and obstructing the treatment components.Moreover, the separate underground piping network prevents residents from beingin contact with pathogen. Also, separate piped system allows more concentratedwastewater than analysis samples picked from actual common sewer (Cf. Table 2,

17), enabling a better development of anaerobic bacteria for treatment. Last butnot least, the pilot decentralized technology implemented through this PDA is basedon low energy and low maintenance requirement. Consequently, the drainagesystem must be completely gravity driven and thus is in a large part dependent onnatural topography and existing infrastructures. The surveys on field revealed thatcurrent common sewers are improperly constructed, especially regarding the slope,thus fostering the establishment of irregular blanket sludge on the bottom of thechannels. Whereas the existing system seems to be inappropriate in flat areas,separate pipe network ensure a better gravity driven flow

49. In the project area we assumed that people would own a septic tank with in-house wastewater piped system. Although septic tanks such those advised inVietnamese construction regulation are not essential in this case, it is indeed

preferable that households have a small settling tanks to retain gross solids.Individual tanks will hereby function as primary decantation treatment, ensuringmore sustainable wastewater flow in separate pipes.

50. Then, the treatment technology (components arrangement), hereafter referredas DEWATS, has to be elaborated given usual composition of domestic wastewater(considering black and gray), and considering the separate pipe network. Therefore,

prevention of rainwater from entering the treatment plant permits to consider the

installment of ABR and AF. However, as mentioned previously, anaerobic-basedtreatment devices are not able to meet alone the national standards and acomplementary post-treatment, such as CW, must be taken into account: horizontal

planted gravel filter has been chosen (Cf. Diagram 8).


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Diagram 8.Scheme of the pilot plant to be implemented in Kieu Ky

Chemical basis for design

51. From a technical point of view, the solution essentially depends on wastewatercomposition, standards to be achieved, land availability, climate, local behaviorsand actual and future wastewater disposals. In Kieu Ky, treated wastewater will bedischarged into either common sewers collecting water for further irrigation or

natural water bodies not used for human water consumption. Therefore effluentshall meet TCVN 5945: 2005 at level B, initially issued for industrial wastewater(Cf. table 5 below).

Parameters Unit Limitation valuespH - 5.5 9BOD5(20

oC) mg/L 50COD mg/L 80TSS mg/L 100Ammonia mg/L 10Total N mg/L 30Total P mg/L 6

Coliform MPN/100mL 5000Table 5.Extract of Vietnamese standard TCVN 5945: 2005, Level B

52. Assuming that black wastewater would be partly treated by households septictanks (removal of 25% of BOD5and COD), the following characteristics of influentto be treated are considered:

Parameters Unit ValuespH - 6.5 7Temperature oC 20BOD5(20

oC) mg/L 353COD mg/L 570SS mg/L 230 315TN mg/L 35 70Coliform MPN/100mL 106 109

Volume m3/day 40Table 6.Assessment of wastewater composition to be treated19

19EAST, BORDA (2008).Prefeasibility report, project: DEWATS wastewater treatment system forCau Mot hamlet Kieu Ky village.Herewith enclosed


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Financial requirements

Pilot plants costs estimateSeparate sewers system: US$ 16,800Pilot DEWATS treatment plant: US$ 14,200Design and engineering work (20%)20: US$ 6,000Total US$ 37,000

53. In Kieu Ky, materials and construction costs are supported by the ADB (US$10,000), BORDA (US$ 14,000) and IMV (US$ 7,000). Design and projectmanagement are provided by the NGOs EAST (EA) and BORDA.

54. The pilot DEWATS has been designed for about 60 households, whichrepresents US$ 510 investments each. The price costs for decentralizedinfrastructures can be influenced by many parameters such as topography,wastewater characteristics, underground specificities (presence of other publicnetwork), etc. Considering that this pilot DEWATS does not imply any specificityincurring extra-investments, these prices can be referred for basic implementation ofabove-described technology.

55. The price for septic tank installment, including all related works (in-houseequipments) can amount at a large range of price (roughly from VND 5,000,000US$ 303 to VND 10,000,000 = US$ 606), depending on house and landconfiguration, existing equipments, construction quality, tank size, etc. To make acomparison, the gap of investment costs between the individual septic tank and theshared DEWATS is not significant especially if we look at the gain of treatmentquality.

Flow estimate for design

56. The pilot project area to be drained gathers at maximum 60 households with adaily discharge of 120 L/day/pers (Cf. 26). The flow capacity of the treatmentdevice is estimated as following:

QT= 60 x 5 x 150 x 0,8/1000 = 36 40 (m3/jour)

Treatment performance

BOD5removal COD removalSeptic tank(followingMoC constructionregulations)21

70% 50%

DEWATS(settler, ABR,AF, HGF, separate pipesystem)22

98 % 96%

20In the PDA, design and engineering works are provided by EAST and BORDA. Thus, this rubric isnot included in the PDA financings. In this paper, we assessed the costs for design and engineering at20% of investments costs.21 Viet Anh N., Nga Pham Thuy, Tran Hieu, Morel Antoine (2005). The potential of decentralizedwastewater management for sustainable development a Vietnamese experience, presented at theWater Environmental Federation (WEF) 2005, 28 31 August 2005, San Francisco, CA, USA


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Construction of the pilot plant

57. The construction of the pilot plant started on November 12th 2008, for theofficial visit of CRIF representatives. The construction phase was initially scheduledfor 90 days upon signing the contract on November 6th 2008. It began with theimplementation of the treatment installation which has been completed in January

2009. On December 2008, the piped system started to be implemented jointly to thetreatment devices. Partial acceptance for treatment facilities has been approved byEAST on January 9thand the construction company handed over the final works onJanuary 23rdin accordance with the contract in terms of schedule and constructionquality. 48 households connection holes have been completed of which only 32 areunder operation, 8 are not yet connected to the corresponding house and 8 areconstructed on uninhabitated lots (to be connected in the future). Chemical tests will

be regularly performed by BORDA during the first year of operation in order toensure efficiency and sustainability of the pilot treatment plant. During these threemonths of construction, thanks to a good involvement of local supervisors andconstructors managers, residents did not mention any major inconvenienceemerging from the construction process. At the end of the construction, the villageshead reported that the project enticed some households who asked to connect theirhouse to the piped network. On February 18th, EAST handed over the pilot plant andits piped network to the PCc, owner of the infrastructures (Cf. appendix 5.Contracts and agreements).

58. The construction company and the supervisors reported some technicaldifficulties to implement the separate system. Due to informal and individualwastewater disposal systems arrangement, the local situation may not beconvenient to a collective piped system. Each house connection has to be taken intoconsideration and designed separately. Besides, some septic tanks dischargingoutlets are to low to be connected to the separate piped system. As a result, there are

still septic tanks discharging into the rainwater sewer and only 32 households (80%)get their wastewater drained towards the treatment plant. There are also householdsstill discharging grey wastewater into their garden because their house has been

partly connected to the piped system.

59. After few weeks of operation, the compartments are not yet filled up by thewastewater which means that the inlet flow assessed for design was too high. Whatis more, the surveys showed that water consumption is much lower than150L/pers./day. In order to optimize the operation of the actual treatment devices,we could increase the connections number up to 100 households. Given that themaximum capacity of the pilot plant is 40 m3, it would mean that the average ofwater consumption is supposed to be around 100L/pers./day.

Management and operation system

60. As the PDA is a pilot and small scale sized project, it consists hereby in a verylocal management supported by the village head. In accordance with the users, henames an operator in charge of (i) small technical maintenance works and (ii)continuous operation of the whole system. As the manager, the village authoritymust (i) take in charge fees collection and accountability issues, (ii) contract with a

22Analysis results from the DEWATS in Kim Bang Hospital, Ha Nam province, installed by BORDAin 2006.


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sanitation professional company when required (sludge removal, filter cleaning,etc.) and (iii) decide about the future of the infrastructures such as extensions, newconnections, etc. After the construction works completion, the EA in collaborationwith the local authorities will advocate on the necessity of proper O&M towards the

population.

61. A fixed monthly participation of VND 5,000 (US$ 0.3) per household has been

settled. It will fit for a proper operation (operators wage) as well as for short andmid-term maintenance fees (sludge removal, replacement of filters media, etc.).However, it wont be sufficient for infrastructures recovery and contingencies so incase of equipments damages, the village head will have to raise extra funds from theresidents for replacement. A document describing the usual terms and theresponsibilities the local actors has been elaborated and submitted to the residents.They have approved it and committed themselves towards the village authority thatthey will follow it.23

3. Discussion on a domestic wastewater treatment model

a) Management and operation model

62. In Vietnamese peri-urban areas such as Gia Lam, domestic wastewater disposalis managed by the residents themselves under Government advice and regulations.However, for the moment, there is no coercitive law constraining households toimplement sanitation system able to match national standards. Besides, publicassistance and sanitation service is provided in priority in urban center. Domesticwastewater is then merely discharged into the common sewers, with rudimentary

pretreatment system at best. Therefore, in these areas, the lack of institution must befilled up by a community-based approach.

63. There are three levels in an eventual communitys involvement: (i) preparation

works, (ii) project implementation and (iii) facilities O&M. Indeed, decentralizedsystems are locally adapted facilities and technologies, so the local context must beaccurately defined by the community, especially regarding populations demand andexpectation. What is more, a critical responsability of the community is the wholework of communication towards beneficiaries about the modalities of the projectsuch as service fees, households connection works to be implemented, benefitsarisen from the project etc. Evidently, the sustainability of the project must beensured by awareness raising activities (IEC), to conduct infrastructuresconstruction together with hygienic and environmental behaviors improvement.Experiences in the field of wastewater management in Vietnam showed thatawareness rising takes a long time and then might be started before equipmentsimprovement projects.

64. For the moment, the project implementation phase should be supported at thedistrict level through a coordination board like for the solid wastes management.These actors would gather technical and project management skills and thereforewould be required to be well trained. Then, they would work in close cooperationwith local actors such as community representatives since the start of the project.Indeed, during the engineering phase, the coordination board would have to requirecommunity participation to collect technical information such as in-house structural

23EAST (January 2009), Usual terms concerning the wastewater collection and treatment system in thevillage of Kieu Ky.Herewith enclosed


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elements usual configuration, water level in rainy season, etc. Thereafter, theinvolvement of the community is also important during the construction processsince local representatives are essential actors in solving local conflicts, in involvingresidents to participate in in-house simple works, etc.

65. As the SESGL is not yet operational for wastewater management, operation andmaintenance should be monitored by Community-Based Organizations involving

also trainings for PCc and operators by the district coordination board. If severaldecentralized systems are implemented to enlarge the projects scale up to the wholecommune, an operation group can be created and monitored by the communesPeople Committee who will take in charge sanitation fees management andaccountability issues. A related question is about the way to collect monthly fees.For the moment in Hanoi, following the law polluter-payer commonly admitted inVietnam, 10% of the water bill is retained to pay for sanitation services (HSDC). Asa peri-urban commune, Kieu Ky will be probably soon covered by a publicsanitation service (such as SESGL) and then the payment for wastewater servicethrough a percentage of the water bill will be conceivable. For the present, sincethere is not yet sanitation utilities in Kieu Ky, the actual model might be proposedconsidering a fixed monthly participation per household to be paid to the localorganization in charge (Cf. diagram 9).


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Diagram 9. Management and operation framework model

Local organizationWomen Union, village authority

Operates the system Small technical maintenance works Report to the local organization when big works have to be done

OperatorPart-time worker

PCcSanitation Management Committee

Operation group3 4 operators, full-time workers

Collects monthly fees Accountability job Contracts with a sanitation company when required (sludge

removal, filter material wash) Ensures financial self sufficiency

Monitors

Technical maintenance Infrastructures observatory Reports to CPcs Sanitation Management Committee

Enlarged projectCommune scale

PCcSanitation Management Committee

HWC HSDC

Owns the infrastructures Represents public interest

Operates the system Maintains the equipments Renews and improves the

sanitation service

Rents out the infrastructuresAgreement

Collects the fees through thewater bill

Reimburses to HSDC

Long termviews

Collects monthly fees Accountability job

Contracts with a sanitation company when required(sludge removal, filter material wash) Ensures financial self sufficiency Entices the population to clean the infrastructures Manages the local wastewater service in full autonomy

Monitors

Provideadministrative

support and localauthority

PCc

Pilot phaseNeighborhood scale


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b) Financial and implementation issues

66. Assuming the enlargement of the project up to a commune over 10,000inhabitants, if we consider about 20 decentralized systems, connected each to anaverage of 100 households, it would represent around 80% of the population with anaccess to a proper wastewater treatment. Taken into account an investments

recovery period of 40 years, monthly fees including eventual reconstruction wouldreach around VND 17,000 (US$ 1)24 per household which (i) is higher than theaverage WTP for O&M elicited in that project25and (ii) might reveal expensive for

poor household. On the other hand, if we consider a household average wastewaterrejection around 13 m3/month26, monthly fees would be around VND 1,300/m3

(US$ 0.08). Given that the price of drinking water amounts at VND 3,200/m3(US$0.2) in Hanoi (of which VND 300 = 10% is retained for sanitation services), thetotal water bill including wastewater treatment would reach VND 4,200/m3 (70%drinking water and 30% wastewater treatment). For the moment, the water sector iswidely subsidized by public authorities. 10% of the water bill retained forwastewater treatment is the first step to make water users realize that sanitation is acostly service but it is still not sufficient. The price for wastewater treatment must

be carefully assessed, in relationship with its actual cost, thus ensuring thesustainability and the quality of the service.

67. Surveys conducted through this PDA elicited two household classes, withrespectively VND 1,250,000 (US$ 76) and VND 2,900,000 (US$ 177) total monthlyincome. One will notice VND 17,000 above-mentioned about O&M includinginvestments recovery represents respectively 1.4% and less than 1% of the totalhousehold income. However, surveys showed that residents WTP for O&M ismuch lower (VND 9,000) but still sufficient proper operation as well as short andmidterm maintenance. We also found out that people would even be willing to

participate for investments costs through their individual connection and in-houseequipments renovation, amounting respectively at VND 577,000 (US$ 35) andVND 3,666,000 (US$ 222). People would then massively agree to pay torenovate/buy individual disposal system if any collective post treatment systemwould be installed. We can furthermore suppose that households owing a septic tankwould afford to participate in the decentralized sanitation system investments. Thisresult is worthwhile considering that in Kieu Ky, like in many peri-urban areas,most households already own a septic tank and this trend will probably increasewith the availability of the piped water supply27.

24VND 17,000 includes VND 1,000 for staffs wages, VND 2,500 for regular maintenance costs(sludge removal and filters cleaning) and VND 13,500 for investment costs recovery.25Surveys on WTP for O&M revealed an average amount around VND 9,000 (US$ 0.55)26Wastewater rejection = 80% of water consumption27EAST Vietnam (August 2008). Socio-economic survey among the population on their ability andwillingness to pay (WTP) for improved wastewater sanitation, survey conducted under this PDA.Herewith enclosed


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B. iii. Crafts workshops wastewater

1. Kieu Kys current situation

68. Kieu Ky is a traditional crafts village specialized in two main trade guilds:- Production of religious ornamentation leaves:

o Gold leaveso Silver leaveso Tin leaves

- Production of bags which includes:o Metallic and plastic items manufacturingo Paper recyclingo Serigraphyo Sewing and assembling

69. Each trade guild benefits from its own representative association in charge ofsupporting and promoting craftsmen professions. These associations providecraftsmen with news about economic situation and help them for granting ofattractive loans from the centre of agricultural promotion of the commune.

a) Arrangement and evolution of crafts activities

Cf.appendix 2 Crafts activities mapping

70. Crafts workshops are small informal companies, based on family business,which could employ up to a dozen of persons. Generally, monthly revenues arentstable, depending on the demand, and investments capacities are quite low. Inaddition to crafts workshops, there are about 1400 households doing crafts activitiesat home for complementary income. These smaller businesses represent the realeconomical strenght of traditionnal craft villages because their huge flexibility andvery low production costs can easily adapt to the demand.

2006 2008Metallic and plastic items manufacturing 8 7

Paper recycling 7 1Serigraphy 6 5Sewing and assembling 7 ?

Table 7.Crafts workshops repartition

71. The socio-economic development of each profession is different within eachcrafts village. Depending on their ability of adaptation to the current market or ontheir products specificity, they are more and less able to develop. We will also

notice that the evolution of certain professions can be very fast. For example, almostall of Kieu Kys paper recycling workshops went bankrupt in less than one yearbecause this activity has a low profit rate and traditional workshops are notcompetitive. On the other hand, the serigraphy workshops can enlarge theiractivities by subcontracting with larger industries. It is even more sensitive in peri-urban areas where more and more big enterprises settle and may contract workshopsfor their flexibility and cheapness production. Meanwhile, the traditional goldleaves crafts profession will survive as long as religious representations will needgold and silver ornaments because Kieu Ky is the last village producing those in

North Vietnam.


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b) Analysis and pollution risks

72. In Kieu Ky, most crafts activities are performed at home. Only a few workshopshave a professional status as production center whereas the majority is considered asdomestic household. In the district of Gia Lam, the public service (SESGL) takes

only regular solid wastes (considered as non hazardous) in charge. Then, theenterprises are responsible to get rid by themselves of their hazardous solid or liquidwastes. However, craftsmen take advantadge of their non professional status to

palm all their wastes off, on the SESGL, which burry them without any specialrecommendation for hazardous wastes. Considering wastewater, both craftshouseholds and professional workshops have to manage by themselves to dischargewastewater in accordance with the national standards but nobody does really investmuch energy in sanitations issues.

73. Considering environmental and/or sanitary risks, three main sources ofpollution have been identified:

- Paper recycling: This activity requires a big amount of water in the production

process, therefore discharging wastewater highly concentrated with organicmatters. Owing to the low profitability and low competitiveness of traditional

paper recycling, many workshops in the commune went to bankrupt withinless than two years. Nowadays, among seven initial workshops, only tworemain officially in activity of which one is already under closure. The lastworkshop in activity supplies the whole demand of the commune and evenmore. However, within its actual turnover around US$ 110 a day, the managerconfessed that the workshop would stop its activity next year.

- Serigraphy: This manual painting method uses several types of inks andsolvents. A significant amount of these hazardous effluent are discharged intocommon sewers and irrigation channels when tools cleaning. Moreover, gasemitted by such chemicals may cause serious long term diseases to theemployees.

- Production of religious ornamentation leaves: Since the use of tin as asubstitution material (instead of gold and silver) due to its low cost, theaccuracy and the quality of the work critically decreases resulting in a lower

profitability and hindering the proper development of these activities. Duringoperation much metal particles are dispersed in the air and settle everywhereincluding wastewater common channels. Moreover, the production requiresthe use of special ink, traditionally made from the combustion of pine resin,which is extremely noxious.

74. For the purpose of assessing the impact of craft activities on the water body, the

project planned to perform several chemical analysis. However, nothing noxiousinitially suspected from crafts activities such as chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) or tin (Sn)arose from the analysis28. Only rates of organic matters higher than usual have beenfound next to the paper recycling workshop and printing workshops. To sum up,even if craftsmen activities represent a potential risk, they can not be blamed yet fora high pollution rate in the water body. However, these chemical analyses data haveto be taken with care since the number of parameters to be analyzed is significantly

28Pr. Dr. Dang Kim Chi (August 2008).Report of current environmental condition in Kieu Kyhandicraft village, survey conducted under this PDA by experts of INEST. Herewith enclosed


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reduced. Thus, crafts wastewater may still contain a large variety of other pollutants(such as polymers, hydrocarbons, etc). What is more, the samples were picked upon July, at the beginning of the rainy season during which the surface water is muchmore diluted.

75. However, field surveys led us to consider other sources of pollution, especially

concerning gas emission. Analysis on air quality showed high concentrations ofhydrocarbons (THC) in working places and especially in serigraphy workshops (upto ten times higher than the standard). THC has been also detected nearby

Documents

VIE PDA: Developing Appropriate Sanitation Solutions for Peri-Urban Areas (Final Report)