What is implementation of automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater in Vietnam?

1. What is implementation of automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater in Vietnam?

In Clause 4, Article 97 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP stipulating automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater as follows:

4. Automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater:

a) The date on which the installation of an automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring system (fitted with CCTV cameras and automatic sampling equipment) and connection and transmission of data directly to a provincial specialized environmental protection authority are completed is December 31, 2024 at the latest with respect to projects, businesses, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters with the wastewater discharge rates specified in Column 4 in the Appendix XXVIII enclosed herewith.

As of January 01, 2025, the investment projects with the wastewater discharge rate specified in Column 4 in the Appendix XXVIII enclosed herewith shall install an automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring system before conducting trial operation of a wastewater treatment work.

The projects, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters with the wastewater discharge rate specified in Column 4 in the Appendix XXVIII enclosed herewith which have installed an automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring system shall be exempted from periodic wastewater monitoring as prescribed in clause 3 of this Article until December 31, 2024; after that, they shall be only exempted from periodic wastewater monitoring prescribed in clause 3 of this Article for the parameters that have undergone automatic and continuous monitoring.

The projects and businesses with the wastewater discharge rate specified in row 3 Column 5 in the Appendix XXVIII enclosed herewith which have installed and maintained an automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring system as prescribed shall be exempted from periodic wastewater monitoring prescribed in clause 3 of this Article.

The projects and businesses with the average wastewater discharge rate specified in the row 2 Column 5 in the Appendix XXVIII enclosed herewith which have installed and maintained an automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring system or other projects and businesses which are not required to install but have voluntarily installed an automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring system shall be entitled to the incentives and assistance prescribed in this Decree and other relevant regulations of law.

The equipment for automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater must be tested, inspected and calibrated in compliance with standards, measurement and quality. The connection and transmission of data on automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater shall comply with regulations on environmental monitoring techniques. Within 03 days from the receipt of the written request for data connection and transmission from the owners of the projects, businesses, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters, the provincial specialized environmental protection authority shall provide an FTP account for monitoring data connection and transmission. After completing the connection and transmission of data on automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater, the provincial specialized environmental protection authority shall send a notification of completion of data connection and transmission to the owners of the projects, businesses, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters;

b) The authority competent to decide to carry out continuous and automatic monitoring shall add several specific parameters to the continuous and automatic wastewater monitoring parameters specified in Column 3 in the Appendix XXVIII enclosed herewith for the purpose of environmental pollution control, except for the case specified in point c of this clause and where the organization or individual commits a violation which is so serious that they may incur an additional penalty: suspension of operation or suspension of the environmental license or component environmental license for their act of wastewater discharge;

c) The projects and businesses which discharge cooling water containing chlorine or disinfectants with a rate of 1,000 m³/day (24 hours) or more, the owner of the project or business shall set automatic and continuous parameters, including flow rate, temperature and chlorine for that source of cooling water;

d) Where the projects, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters have carried out automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater  with the main monitoring parameters satisfying the environmental technical regulation for 03 consecutive years and the latest inspection result given by the competent authority (having the wastewater sample which meets the environmental technical regulation) shows that no violation against regulations on wastewater discharge is found, they shall be exempted from periodic wastewater monitoring.

The owners of the projects, businesses, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters shall send a written notification made using the form promulgated by MONRE to the licensing authority; if the environmental license is issued by a central government authority (except for national defense and security secrets), a written notification shall be also sent to the provincial specialized environmental protection authority for supervision purpose;

dd) Value of an automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring parameter shall be determined according to the daily (24 hours) average values of the results (based on technical specifications of each piece of equipment) of measurement of such parameter. In the case of discharge of wastewater having undergone batch treatment (batch wastewater treatment technology), values of automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring parameters shall be determined according to the 01-hour average value. If wastewater is discharged over a period of less than 01 hour, such values shall be determined according to the average values of the results of measurement carried out during such discharge period. Values of automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring parameters shall be compared with the maximum permissible values of pollution parameters in accordance with the environmental technical regulation on wastewater;

e) The Government shall decide the time of installation of the automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring system by projects and businesses with the wastewater discharge rates specified in rows 2 and 3 Column 5 in the Appendix XXVIII enclosed herewith in accordance with environmental protection requirements from time to time.

2. What are uses of the automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring result in Vietnam?

In Clause 5, Article 97 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP stipulating the automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring result is used as follows:

5. The automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring result shall be used to supervise and evaluate the efficiency and suitability of wastewater treatment works, declare and pay environmental protection fees on wastewater and impose penalties for administrative violations against regulations on environmental protection (if any).

3. What measures must be implemented by the provincial specialized environmental protection authority detects a parameter in excess of the permissible limit specified in the environmental technical regulation in Vietnam?

In Clause 6, Article 97 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP stipulating if the provincial specialized environmental protection authority detects a parameter in excess of the permissible limit specified in the environmental technical regulation through periodic or automatic and continuous monitoring, it shall implement any of the following measures:

a) Send the owner of the project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster a written notification of the wastewater monitoring result (periodic or automatic and continuous) exceeding the permissible limit specified in the environmental technical regulation and remedial measures to be taken, which is made using the form promulgated by MONRE. After receiving the written notification specified in this point, if the monitoring result still exceeds the permissible limit specified in the environmental technical regulation, the provincial specialized environmental protection authority shall work with the owner of the project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster and compile a dossier on penalty imposition as prescribed by law;

b) Carry out field sampling or collect samples from the automatic sampling equipment for analysis. The wastewater sample analysis result shall serve as the basis for considering imposing penalties for violations (if any) as prescribed by law. The costs of sample collection and analysis shall be covered by the budget for environmental services allocated to the provincial specialized environmental protection authority.

Best Regards!