Strictly Prohibit Acts of Destruction or Intentional Damage to Irrigation Works

To be specific, under the provisions of Article 3 of the Law on Water Resources 2017, the principles in water resource activities are as follows:

- Appropriate with the principles of integrated water resource management; unified by river basin, water resource system, combined with administrative units, serving multiple goals;- Ensuring national benefits, defense, security; environmental protection, adapting to climate change; contributing to the security of water resources and sustainable socio-economic development;- Proactively creating water sources, accumulating, regulating, transferring, distributing, supplying, irrigating, draining water among seasons and regions; ensuring production and living requirements according to the water resource system, river basin, region, and nationwide;- Using water sparingly, safely, efficiently, as intended; ensuring the quantity and quality of water in the water resource project;- Ensuring the lawful rights and interests of organizations and individuals in water resource activities; mobilizing the participation of the entire population in water resource activities;

- Organizations and individuals are entitled to use water resource products and services and must pay according to legal regulations; ensuring the safety of life and property against adverse impacts during the construction and exploitation of water resource projects.

Moreover, to ensure water resource activities are conducted in conformity with the law and to effectively promote them, Article 8 of the Law on Water Resources 2017 stipulates the prohibited acts in water resource activities as follows:

- Constructing water resource projects not in accordance with the planning approved by competent authorities;- Disposing of waste, trash within the protection scope of water resource projects; discharging wastewater illegally into water resource projects; other acts causing water pollution in water resource projects;- Destroying or intentionally damaging water resource projects;- Blocking, filling, digging, dredging, extracting mud, sand, gravel illegally on rivers, canals, ditches, lakes, ponds that affect water resource activities;- Using motor vehicles exceeding the allowable load on water resource projects; using motor vehicles, inland waterway vessels in water resource projects where there are prohibitory signs, except for priority vehicles and vessels as prescribed by the law on road and inland waterway traffic;- Obstructing inspection and examination of water resource activities;- Illegally extracting water from water resource projects;- Arbitrarily operating water resource projects; operating water resource projects contrary to the process approved by competent state agencies;- Opposing, obstructing, or failing to comply with decisions of competent agencies or individuals in response to emergencies when water resource projects have incidents;- Encroaching, illegally using land within the protection scope of water resource projects;- Conducting activities within the protection scope of water resource projects without a permit or not complying with the content of the permit issued for activities specified in Article 44 of the Law on Water Resources 2017.

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