On the afternoon of June 20, the National Assembly discussed in the Hall the draft Law on Water Resources (amended).
In their speeches, delegates agreed on the need to amend the Law on Water Resources to overcome the shortcomings and limitations of the current law, institutionalize the Party's policy on protecting and using water resources to ensure water security, safety of dams and reservoirs, proactively and actively store water, regulate to ensure sufficient water for daily life, production and life, implement solutions to save water, reuse water, apply science and technology in water resources management and development.
Giving comments on specific provisions to complete the draft law, many delegates expressed interest in the policy of providing clean water to people.
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| Delegate Nguyen Thi Ngoc Xuan. (Binh Duong Delegation) |
Expressing special interest in this policy, delegate Nguyen Thi Ngoc Xuan (Binh Duong Delegation) said that clean water is a special food and commodity that has a direct impact on people's health and all other essential activities. In Vietnam, the rate of households with access to tap water is currently only about 52%, especially in urban areas, this rate is 84.2%, while in rural areas it is only 34.8%. According to UNICEF estimates, about 52% of children in Vietnam, equivalent to 17 million children, do not have access to clean water. Lack of clean water and poor sanitation are considered the leading causes of 44% of children being infected with worms and 27% of children under 5 years old being malnourished.
The delegate also cited statistics from the Ministry of Health, Vietnam has 37 cancer villages, of which 10 cancer villages have heavily polluted water sources, this number is very alarming. People have the right to access clean water and the Government's responsibility for people's clean water needs, especially in rural areas, remote areas, border areas, and islands. Therefore, the delegate proposed that Article 5 of the draft law add the content "The State has a plan, investment plan for development, management of clean water supply systems for people; invest in inter-commune, inter-district, inter-provincial clean water supply systems and clean water supply systems for the entire region; regulate the scope of responsibility for protecting water supply works for the community".
According to the delegate, the implementation of current regulations on production, supply and consumption of clean water has revealed limitations. Specifically, the management of urban and industrial water supply in the locality is assigned to the Department of Construction, while rural areas are assigned to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. This leads to a situation where urban water supply units are not allowed to supply water to rural areas and vice versa, although the units have sufficient capacity to supply water and are very close to where people live, causing people to have no clean water to use. Therefore, voters recommend that the Government assign a unified management agency for clean water supply works for people in Clause 5, Article 76 as follows: "The Ministry of Construction is responsible for presiding over and coordinating state management of construction and operation of urban and rural water supply and drainage works, ensuring compliance with regulations on exploitation, use and protection of water resources".
In addition, it is recommended to supplement regulations on the responsibilities of clean water supply companies, especially compensation for damages to people in Article 28, Clause 2, Article 45 of the draft law to contribute to improving the quality of clean water supply services for people. The delegate pointed out that in Finland, clean water can be used directly from the tap of each apartment. Water supply interruptions, water incidents and water risk management are determined by calculating the total time of water supply interruption in a year. Users can request compensation for a minimum of 2% of water supply costs if this time exceeds 12 hours in a year. Ensuring the quality of water supply services in Finland is considered a matter of survival for businesses and local authorities at all levels strictly manage this issue.
According to the delegate, voters recommended that the Government direct the review, revision and supplementation of the management of clean water supply prices because currently clean water supply enterprises are assigned to develop their own price plans, then submit them to the provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision, while there are not many independent organizations with the capacity to advise, inspect and appraise clean water prices to ensure publicity, transparency and harmony of interests of the State, clean water suppliers and people. The delegate also recommended that there should be a policy to support clean water subsidies for people, especially poor households, near-poor households, remote areas, border areas and islands.
Also on this issue, delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh (Lam Dong delegation) suggested that it is necessary to study and review the inadequacies between the regulations on urban water supply and rural water supply. In many cases, urban water supply works bordering rural areas, with the ability to supply water, are not licensed to supply water to rural areas, or vice versa, rural clean water supply works bordering urban areas are not allowed to supply water to urban residential areas, or in the process of urbanization, many rural areas have become urban areas, so rural water supply works must be handed over and transferred to new management units. Therefore, the delegate suggested that it is necessary to continue to study, consider, and unify the tasks of urban water supply and rural water supply.
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| Delegate Le Xuan Than. (Khanh Hoa) |
Emphasizing that water and electricity are two urgent, daily and hourly needs for people, according to delegate Le Xuan Than (Khanh Hoa), the bill still lacks content on clean water and domestic water. "Why not include all the content on clean water and domestic water in this draft law instead of waiting? According to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, the Government is assigning the Ministry to submit for development, but checking the law and ordinance development program until now, even at the end of 2014, there is still no sign of the Water Supply and Drainage Law, so we may have to wait a long time" - the delegate expressed his opinion.
With the aim of including regulations that ensure social security into the law, the delegate expressed his sincere request to the Drafting Committee and the National Assembly Standing Committee to consider and transfer all the contents of Decree 117 on production, supply and consumption of clean water (issued in 2007), which has been amended many times and is currently being applied, into a chapter of the Law on Water Resources.
“This is my earnest wish to ensure that all issues related to electricity and water are regulated by law, not sub-law documents,” the delegate emphasized./.
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