The Research-Project IWRM-Vietnam has supported the construction of a water supply system in the rural commune of Hoa Bac in Lam Dong province. The system relies on surface water from a small watershed in the mountains above Hoa Bac. Increasing deforestation, rice and coffee farming as well as discharge of domestic wastewater in the watershed threaten the water quality at the long term.

The University of Bochum has proposed protection measures that will allow guaranteeing the safety of the water supply system, such as the implementation of protection zones, the improvement of forest protection and the restriction of use of fertilizers and pesticides. Necessary actions to implement those measures will be  information, training and financial support to people living in the watershed, as well as better control and enforcement of restrictions.

The project has organized a workshop at Di Linh District People’s Committee at 23^rdof July 2009 for the consultation of local stakeholders. Representatives of three Commune People Committees as well as from administrative units for forestry, agriculture and environment from commune, district and provincial levels have discussed the proposed measures and commented on necessary steps for implementation.  The suggestions of the local stakeholders will now be included in the revised proposal that will be submitted to the provincial people’s committee for approval and then implemented by local authorities.

The protection of water sources for drinking water supply is a new issue for Vietnam that is becoming very important with the increasing environmental pollution. However, to date only little experiences exist in this field in Vietnam. The experiences from the local case study in Hoa Bac are therefore extremely valuable for water management in Vietnam.

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Overview map of protection zones in Hoa Bac (click in map for details)