International Conference on Integrated Water Resources Management Management of Water in a Changing World: Lessons Learnt and Innovative Perspectives

- Oct. 12th 13th 2011 in Dresden, Germany

Submitted abstract for a oral presentation

Assessment and development of management strategies for the Tay Ninh river in Vietnam
Huyen Le, Sabine Falk, Gnter Meon Dept. of Hydrology, Water Resources Management and Water Protection; Leichtweiss Institute of Hydraulics and Water Resources (LWI); University of Braunschweig, Germany

In Vietnam, the water cycle and the cycle of matter as well as biological processes within the water body are strongly influenced by the specific tropical climate conditions such as high air temperature and humidity, high absorption and low emission of heat as well as enormous spatial and temporal variation of precipitation throughout the year. Because of the numerous interacting processes, the water quality in the tropics is more difficult to describe and to predict than in the temperate zone. Furthermore, experience, scientific publications and the data needed for a significant management are lacking. Surface water is also often the only source for drinking and industrial water in the tropics in general and in Vietnam in particular. However, due to numerous discharges of untreated wastewater the surface water bodies are often highly contaminated. In the paper/presentation, the main objectives of the BMBF- project Treatment of tapioca wastewater and sustainable water pollution control management of key economic zones in southern Vietnam will be first shortly presented. The main objectives of the project is to develop procedures and techniques to sustainably improve the water quality of polluted surface waters in tropical and subtropical zones under given socio-economic and ecological constrains. It consists of experimental studies of tapioca wastewater treatment and a numerical water pollution control management system (WPCM) based on models for water cycle, water quality, water evaluation and management methods. This WPCM system will be firstly developed for the Tay Ninh river, after that the calibrated and optimized model will then be extended to the Saigon river basin upstream of Ho Chi Minh city. The Tay Ninh river is a small, highly polluted river of the Dong Nai river basin, one of the largest and most important national river basins in Vietnam. The Tay Ninh river has a catchment of 329 km and a length of 37.8 kilometers. The surface width ranges from 10 to 40 meters at mean discharge conditions. The water of the Tay Ninh river is used for the purposes of irrigation and fisheries. The Tay Ninh cachtment is characterized with high agricultural activities. Within the cachtment, there are numerous industry companies which discharge untreated wastewater into the river. Among these companies, tapioca starch companies produce especially a large amount of high contaminated organic wastewater. Therefore, the river is high polluted over many years. Within the framework of the BMBF-project, monitoring systems of water quantity and water quality of the Tay Ninh river were installed. The monitoring activities took more than 1 year and have ended at the end of September 2010. Base on the monitoring data and collected data such as land use, water quality of the Tay Ninh river was assessed and based on these results, management strategies for a sustainable river basin management for the Tay Ninh river were developed. Results of water quality assessment by means of 3 methods will be presented. Afterwards, management strategies for a sustainable river basin management for the Tay Ninh river will be performed.