CIRCULAR

PROCEDURES FOR MONITORING INLAND SURFACE WATER

THE MINISTER OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 25/2008/NĐ-CP on March 04, 2008 on defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, amended in the Government's Decree No. 19/2010/NĐ-CP dated March 08, 2010 and Decree No. 89/2010/NĐ-CP dated August 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 102/2008/NĐ-CP dated September 15, 2008 on collection, management, and use of database about natural resources and environment;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 16/2007/QĐ-TTg dated January 29, 2007 on approval for Master Plan for national monitoring network for natural resources and environment by 2020;

At the request of Director of Vietnam Environment Administration, Director of Department of Science and Technology, and Director of Legal Department,

HEREBY PRESCRIBES

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

This Circular provides for inland surface water monitoring procedures, including: determination of monitoring purposes, monitoring program design, and monitoring program execution.

Article 2. Regulated entities

1. This Circular applies to:

a) Central and local environment authorities; environmental monitoring stations and centers of the national environmental monitoring network and local environmental monitoring networks;

b) The organizations licensed or assigned to carry out environmental monitoring, provide environmental monitoring services, and submit reports to central and local environment authorities.

2. This Circular does not apply to inland surface water monitoring using automatic, continuous devices.

Article 3. Rules for applying cited standards and methods

1. The application of standards and methods must comply with the monitoring, analysis methods and standards mentioned in Chapter II of this Circular;

2. Where any of the monitoring, analysis methods and standards mentioned in Chapter II of this Circular is amended or replaced, the new standard or method shall apply.

Chapter II

PROCEDURES FOR MONITORING INLAND SURFACE WATER

Article 4. Monitoring purposes

Basis purposes of inland surface water monitoring:

1. Evaluate the practical quality of local surface water;

2. Evaluate the conformity of standards with the water;

3. Evaluate spatial and temporal development of water quality;

4. Issue early warnings of pollution to water sources;

5. Satisfy other requirements for national, regional, and local environment management.

Article 5. Designing monitoring program

The monitoring program must be approved or accepted in writing by a competent authority or an agency in charge of monitoring programs. Designing the monitoring program:

1. Type of monitoring

Depending on the monitoring purposes, the program designer must determine whether the monitoring is background monitoring or impact monitoring.

2. Monitoring location and position

a) The monitoring position depends on the general targets and specific conditions of each monitoring position;

b) The network of monitoring points shall be established according to requirements of the monitoring subject (river, stream, pond, lake, etc.) The quantity of monitoring points shall be annually decided by competent authorities;

c) The selected monitoring positions must be stable and represent the water environment in that area, be marked on the map, and the exact coordinates of which must be determined.

3. Monitoring parameters

According to the purposes of the monitoring program, the types of water sources, purposes, pollution sources or receiving sources, the following parameters shall be monitored:

a) On-site measurement and analysis: pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen content, electrical conductance, opacity, total dissolved solids;

b) Other parameters: reduction potential (Eh or ORP), total suspended solids (TSS), biological oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrite (NO₂^-), nitrate (NO₃^-), ammonium (NH₄⁺), sulfate (SO₄^2-), phosphate (PO₄^3-), total nitrogen (T-N), total phosphorus (T-P), silicate (SiO₃^2-), total iron (Fe), chloride (Cl^-), fluoride (F^-), alkalinity, coliform, E.coli, phecal coli, cyanide(CN^-), silicon dioxide (SiO₂), oil, grease, arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), ions of sodium (Na⁺), potassium (K⁺), magnesium(Mg²⁺), calcium (Ca²⁺), phenol, surfactant, residues of pesticides, plankton, and benthos;

c) Some parameters in Point b Clause 3 of this Article may be quickly measured depending on the availability of equipment and personnel.

4. Monitoring duration and frequency

a) Frequency of inland surface water monitoring:

- Background monitoring frequency: at least once per month;

- Impact monitoring frequency: at least once per quarter;

The monitoring frequency shall be determined according to requirements of environmental management, monitoring purposes, characteristics of water sources, economic and technical conditions.

b) Minimum sampling frequency shall be 02 times per day at the positions affected by tides or where there are significant variance of characteristics, flow rate in order to evaluate the overall impact of tides.

5. Monitoring planning

Based on the monitoring program, the monitoring planning plan includes:

a) List of personnel and their tasks;

b) List of organizations and individuals that participate, cooperate in environmental monitoring (if any);

c) List of equipment, instruments, chemicals used on the site and in the laboratory;

d) Protective equipment serving environmental monitoring;

dd) Types of samples, volumes of samples, and duration of sample retention;

e) Laboratory analysis methods;

g) Funding for environmental monitoring;

h) Plan for assurance and control of environmental monitoring quality.

Article 7. Executing monitoring program

A monitoring program consists of the following tasks:

1. Preparation

The following preparation tasks must be done before monitoring:

a) Prepare documents, maps, diagrams, and general information about the sampled area;

b) Monitor the climate and weather developments;

c) Prepare necessary tools and instruments; check, clean, and calibrate the instruments for sampling, measuring, and testing before going to the site;

d) Prepare chemicals, supplies, instruments for taking and preserving samples;

dd) Prepare sample labels, forms, monitoring and analysis logs as prescribed;

e) Prepare instruments for taking and transporting samples;

g) Prepare protective equipment;

g) Prepare funding and personnel for monitoring;

i) Prepare accommodation for those who work for many days;

k) Prepare relevant documents and forms;

2. On-site sampling and analysis

a) Inland surface water shall be sampled in accordance with one of the standards listed in Table 1:

Table 1. Method for on-site sampling of inland surface water

b) With regard to the parameters measured/analyzed on the site, instructions of monitoring equipment manufacturers shall be followed;

c) If national standards for determination of the parameters mentioned in Table 1 are not available, corresponding international standards in Table 1 or other international standards with equal or higher accuracy shall be applied;

d) Quality assurance and control tasks on the site shall comply with regulations environmental monitoring quality assurance and control of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

3. Preserving and transporting samples

Water samples taken shall be preserved and stored in accordance with TCVN 6663-3:2008 (equivalent to ISO 5667-3:2003).

4. Analysis in laboratory

a) Depending on the required quality of results and conditions of the laboratory, the parameters must be analyzed in accordance with one of the methods mentioned in Table 2:

Table 2: Method for analysis of parameters in laboratory

b) If national standards for determination of the parameters mentioned in Table 2 are not available, corresponding international standards in Table 2 or other international standards with equal or higher accuracy shall be applied;

c) Quality assurance and control tasks in the laboratory shall comply with regulations environmental monitoring quality assurance and control of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

5. Processing data and reporting

a) Processing data

- Data check: check the rationality of the environment analysis and monitoring data. Data shall be checked according to documents of the samples (sampling record, on-site sampling logs, sample delivery note, on-site measurement/analysis result note, laboratory analysis result sheet, etc.), data of QC samples (blank samples, repeated samples, standard samples, etc.);

- Statistical processing: according to the quantity of samples and the report, various methods and software programs may be used for statistical processing as long as the essential description (minimum value, maximum value, mean value, number exceeding standards, etc); must be available;

- Comments on the data: the comments must be given according to monitoring and analysis results that have been processed and verified, relevant technical regulations and standards.

b) Reporting

After the monitoring program is completed, a monitoring result report shall be made and send to a competent authority as prescribed.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 8. Implementation

1. Vietnam Environment Administration are responsible for providing guidance, inspect, and supervise the implementation of this Circular.

2. Ministers, Heads of ministerial agencies, Heads of Governmental agencies, Presidents of the People’s Committees, relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for the implementation of this Circular.

Article 9. Effect

1. This Circular takes effect on September 15, 2011.

2. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (via Vietnam Environment Administration) for timely consideration./.