Vietnam opens Mekong Delta's largest waste water facility

[webfact]

VN opens Mekong Delta's largest waste water facility



CAN THO: -- A new waste water treatment plant, said to be the largest of its kind in the Mekong Delta, was put into operation on Saturday in Tra Noc Industrial Park in Can Tho, Viet Nam News reported.

With the first phase of the project completed, the new waste water treatment facility, which was built by Can Tho IP Construction JSC on a 10,400 square metres area, can treat 6,000 cubic metres of waste water per day.

The waste water collection system includes 10,885 metres of pipelines and 13 reservoirs. Treated water is discharged into Sang Trang Canal and Hau (Posterior Mekong) River.

Construction of the first phase costs VND142 billion (nearly US$6.5 million) with funding from the State budget; Investment and Development Fund of Can Tho; a loan from Vietnam Environment Protection Fund ; and,Can Tho IP Construction JSC’s investment.

The waste water treatment technology and equipment was imported mostly from G7 countries.

In the second phase of the project, the plant will be expanded to 20,000 sq.m to treat 12,000 cubic metres of waste water per day.

At this stage, the plant will be the largest waste water treatment facility in the Mekong Delta. Total investment of the two phases of the project would amount to VND213 billion, said Can Tho IP Construction JSC.

This is the second waste water treatment facility in Can Tho. The first facility operates in Thot Not Industrial Park.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/vn-opens-mekong-deltas-largest-waste-water-facility

-- Thai PBS 2015-08-11

[slapout]

Maybe Thailand should take notes on how the project was handled, bywhat contractors, etc. At least they would be able to observe a real working model that is said to be doing what it was designed for, constructed to completion and is apparently working as planned.

There are plenty of industrial areas in Thailand where fluids discharged into the water drainage system certainly need cleaning up via reliable treatment plants. Instead we see raw sewage being allowed to flow where ever gravity takes it via canels so polutted that they are a health hazard to everyone within eye sight and probablely contribute to pollution even further.away.

[Jim walker]

Thailand knows better than this don't need to even think about such a thing just pump all the sewage out to sea and the fish will grow nice and big and no one will ever notice a few condoms or turds washed back to the beach so everyone is happy even the marine biologists are happy having there fish fed

[Veeke]

State taking care of development and welfare may be the lesson - not just over allocations on defence purchases.....

[stoneyboy]

Given time Thailand will be the poor relations in this area,and miles behind neighbouring countries such as Vietnam due to their blinkered beliefs.

Edited August 11, 2015 by stoneyboy

[DeepInTheForest]

Posters invariably greet news such as this post as evidence that Thailand is more backward than any country in SE Asia. That may not be always true, as an examination of other nations demonstrates. It is clear that Thailand has a long way to go, yet it treats 20% of its wastewater in over 100 treatment plants.

http://www.wepa-db.net/pdf/1003forum/7_thai_wijarnsimachaya.pdf

Believe it or not, that is better than many countries.

In the case of Vietnam, its wastewater treatment facilities are sometimes totally underwritten by outside interests. Japan has recently come up with US $130 million for a large plant in Ho Chi Minh city.

http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2015/02/wastewater-treatment-plant-in-vietnam-to-get-130m-upgrade.html

As of 2012, there were only 17 wastewater treatment plants in the country, though more were in the planning stage. This is for a country of 80 million.

A paper published after 2010 (undated) says that Vietnam lacks policy measures dealing with financing, production, support and extension services, as well as the training of technical staff. There is also a lack of knowledge and wherewithal regarding how to handle the needs of agriculture, which has traditionally relied on wastewater for fertilization, etc. The article linked to below contains pictures of rural people washing and irrigating their vegetables in what is clearly wastewater.

http://www.ais.unwater.org/ais/pluginfile.php/501/mod_page/content/87/report_vietnam.pdf

It is also one thing to build treatment facilities-- it is another to pay for their operation and maintenance. Wastewater treatment as currently practiced is energy-intensive and hugely expensive. Urban scholars believe that an alternative to western-style facilities must be found for the developing world. In Vietnam, projections are that a system will cost $8.3 billion to run by 2025. That is a cost that will be hard for Vietnam to maintain.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam/publication/vietnam-urban-wastewater-review

Edited August 11, 2015 by DeepInTheForest

[stoneyboy]

Posters invariably greet news such as this post as evidence that Thailand is more backward than any country in SE Asia. That may not be always true, as an examination of other nations demonstrates. It is clear that Thailand has a long way to go, yet it treats 20% of its wastewater in over 100 treatment plants.

http://www.wepa-db.net/pdf/1003forum/7_thai_wijarnsimachaya.pdf

Believe it or not, that is better than many countries.

In the case of Vietnam, its wastewater treatment facilities are sometimes totally underwritten by outside interests. Japan has recently come up with US $130 million for a large plant in Ho Chi Minh city.

http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2015/02/wastewater-treatment-plant-in-vietnam-to-get-130m-upgrade.html

As of 2012, there were only 17 wastewater treatment plants in the country, though more were in the planning stage. This is for a country of 80 million.

A paper published after 2010 (undated) says that Vietnam lacks policy measures dealing with financing, production, support and extension services, as well as the training of technical staff. There is also a lack of knowledge and wherewithal regarding how to handle the needs of agriculture, which has traditionally relied on wastewater for fertilization, etc. The article linked to below contains pictures of rural people washing and irrigating their vegetables in what is clearly wastewater.

http://www.ais.unwater.org/ais/pluginfile.php/501/mod_page/content/87/report_vietnam.pdf

It is also one thing to build treatment facilities-- it is another to pay for their operation and maintenance. Wastewater treatment as currently practiced is energy-intensive and hugely expensive. Urban scholars believe that an alternative to western-style facilities must be found for the developing world. In Vietnam, projections are that a system will cost $8.3 billion to run by 2025. That is a cost that will be hard for Vietnam to maintain.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam/publication/vietnam-urban-wastewater-review

But they are at least akin to excepting outside help from developed nations,something Thailand seems rather shy and unaccepting to do.

[natway09]

Anybody know & please do not guess, how much of Bangkok is deep sewered??

My area in lower Sukhumvit is certainly not

[DeepInTheForest]

Posters invariably greet news such as this post as evidence that Thailand is more backward than any country in SE Asia. That may not be always true, as an examination of other nations demonstrates. It is clear that Thailand has a long way to go, yet it treats 20% of its wastewater in over 100 treatment plants.

http://www.wepa-db.net/pdf/1003forum/7_thai_wijarnsimachaya.pdf

Believe it or not, that is better than many countries.

In the case of Vietnam, its wastewater treatment facilities are sometimes totally underwritten by outside interests. Japan has recently come up with US $130 million for a large plant in Ho Chi Minh city.

http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2015/02/wastewater-treatment-plant-in-vietnam-to-get-130m-upgrade.html

As of 2012, there were only 17 wastewater treatment plants in the country, though more were in the planning stage. This is for a country of 80 million.

A paper published after 2010 (undated) says that Vietnam lacks policy measures dealing with financing, production, support and extension services, as well as the training of technical staff. There is also a lack of knowledge and wherewithal regarding how to handle the needs of agriculture, which has traditionally relied on wastewater for fertilization, etc. The article linked to below contains pictures of rural people washing and irrigating their vegetables in what is clearly wastewater.

http://www.ais.unwater.org/ais/pluginfile.php/501/mod_page/content/87/report_vietnam.pdf

It is also one thing to build treatment facilities-- it is another to pay for their operation and maintenance. Wastewater treatment as currently practiced is energy-intensive and hugely expensive. Urban scholars believe that an alternative to western-style facilities must be found for the developing world. In Vietnam, projections are that a system will cost $8.3 billion to run by 2025. That is a cost that will be hard for Vietnam to maintain.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam/publication/vietnam-urban-wastewater-review

But they are at least akin to excepting outside help from developed nations,something Thailand seems rather shy and unaccepting to do.

"But they are at least akin to excepting outside help from developed nations,something Thailand seems rather shy and unaccepting to do."

No supporting evidence or examples provided to buttress the assertion made. And this in the forum where Thais are routinely denounced for lack of critical thinking and reasoned argument.

Let me provide some counterpoint. To cite a counterexample in the field of waste water management: after the tsunami, wastewater facilities for Phi Phi, Phuket, and Khao Lak were designed by a Danish firm, COWI, after 20 million Danish kroner were donated to the relief effort by the Danish government. (Naturally, as is so often the case, much of that money went right back into the pockets of the Danish consulting firm.) http://www.cowi.com/menu/NewsandMedia/News/Newsarchive/Pages/concealedwastewatertreatmentplantsinthailand.aspx

Sometimes outside help has caused crisis. The ill-fated Samut Prakan wastewater treatment plant was shelved in 2003 after a long struggle with locals in Klong Dan, despite large amounts of financial aid from the Asian Development Bank, after it was found that the siting of the plant was a gross human rights violation and that the ADB had violated numerous of its own policies. http://www.forum-adb.org/inner.php?sec=13&ref=extras&id=126

The search for funds for wastewater treatment: In 1992 the Environmental Fund was established as part of the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act. http://www.jica.go.jp/english/our_work/evaluation/oda_loan/post/2006/pdf/project04_full.pdf

Just as is the case for Vietnam, it was obvious that there would be funding shortfalls since the need for treatment infrastructure was so great. Funds came from Japanese loans ($100 million from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan in 1994), Thai government grants in 1993-95 totaling US $48 million, the Fuel Oil fund, the Revolving Fund for Environmental Development and Quality of Life, service fees and fines, private sector donations (both domestic and foreign), and by foreign governments and organizations.

These are but a few examples. It should be obvious that the government has routinely accepted outside consultants and funding in wastewater infrastructure. The same is true in many areas, including dams, electrical generation, chemical plant construction-- all the nuts and bolts of a modern manufacturing state. The fact is, countries like Vietnam and Thailand have had to-- nations that were comprised of 90% rural people (in the 70s) had no other option.

That doesn't mean everything is balloons and party hats. There are problems with 80% of treatment plants. That should not surprise, given that they were built in a hurry by a smorgasbord of contractors, that operating funds were limited or nonexistent, and that trained personnel were in short supply. Such is the way in countries that have had an accelerated development path, where what happened over 350 years in a European country is compressed into thirty years in Southeast Asia.

Edited August 13, 2015 by DeepInTheForest