Capacity Building in Environmental Science and Technology in Northern Vietnam (ESTNV)

Rationale of the project

The rapid economic development of Vietnam since beginning of the 1990’s with accelerating industrialisation - together with fast urbanisation - has led to serious environmental problems. Untreated liquid and solid waste from domestic activities and industries cause water pollution, underground water pollution becomes more and more obvious, and overuse of water resources cause several negative impacts. In order to prevent pollution, Vietnam has put into place several environmental laws, directives and regulations. One of the crucial points for the implementation and enforcement of these laws is the lack of reliable environmental data and information as well as the lack of adequate mitigation capacities and strategies.

Being aware of these problems, the Vietnamese and the Swiss Government entered in 1998 a cooperation to support the field of environmental science and technology. The ESTNV project was born. The project is promoting professional knowledge in environmental science, drinking water production technologies and municipal (solid and liquid) waste management in Northern Vietnam.

Project partners and organisation

The project is under the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and implemented at the Centre of Environmental Engineering of Towns and Industrial Areas (CEETIA) situated at the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering (HUCE) and at the Centre of Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development (CETASD) situated at the Hanoi University of Science (HUS). The project is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) with the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) as the implementing partner on the Swiss behalf. The implementation of a management system at both institutes is facilitated by OCD, a private institute specialised in organisational development. The project is led by a Project Steering Committee (PSC), with representatives from different ministries, from both universities and SDC. Advisory Boards at both institutes

support the scientific orientation of the research centres.

Main research activities at CEETIA

The core business of CEETIA is applied research in the field of environmental technology and engineering. CEETIA disposes of well-equiped chemical laboratories for supporting the applied engineering section. Research activities at CEETIA in the framework of the ESTNV project aim at identifying and analysing the problems related to macro-pollutants (such as BOD, COD, N, P) and at developing solutions for the design, operation and maintenance, and monitoring of technical systems in wastewater and faecal sludge management.

Two research projects are currently being carried out: Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) and Appropriate Decentralised Sanitation options for urban and peri-urban areas in Vietnam (DESA), under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kim Thai and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngyen Viet Anh, respectively.