Exploring nature-based solutions for sustainable wastewater management

Tiếng Việt

Exploring nature-based solutions for sustainable wastewater management

Effective wastewater management poses a significant and pressing challenge, particularly in major cities like Hanoi. Given the current state of wastewater management and the government's overarching vision, there is an imminent requirement for sustainable solutions.

Nature-based solutions (NBS), which are inspired and supported by nature, are cost-effective, provide environmental, social, economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature, natural features and processes into cities, landscapes through locally adapted, resource-efficient, and systemic interventions.

In 2019, according to the Ministry of Construction, only 46% of urban households had access to a sewerage system, and a mere 12.5% of wastewater underwent treatment. The research team led by Ms Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, RMIT Associate Lecturer in Logistics and Supply Chain Management, conducted an analysis and proposed solutions for wastewater management challenges, with a specific focus on Hanoi. As of 2021, the capacity of wastewater treatment facilities in Hanoi has reached only 276,000m3 each day, dealing with just 28.8% of the wastewater.

RMIT Senior Lecturer Dr Pham Nguyen Anh Huy (pictured left) and Associate Lecturer Ms Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (pictured right)

The current wastewater management situation and the government vision led to the need for sustainable solutions as soon as possible to gradually solve wastewater pollution problem for suburban areas. One of the green technological solutions can be a distributed (decentralised) wastewater treatment system to minimise the negative influence of untreated wastewater on surface water bodies such as wastewater treatment systems that operate through a complex synergy of soil, water, vegetation, and atmosphere.

This is a type of NBS that can be applied for individual household or group of households in Hanoi suburban area. Decentralisation wastewater treatment (DWWT) is a potentially appropriate method along with Centralisation wastewater treatment (CWWT) to increase the local population with access to clean water supply and sanitation.

After conducting the costs and benefits analysis, the research team concludes that these solutions can provide over 200 million dollars per year in social, environmental, and economic benefits for Hanoi. These results are in line with the regulatory directions from the government such as Plan 312/KH-UBND about the development of urban water drainage and wastewater treatment systems of Hanoi city for the period of 2021-2025, and Decision 725/QĐ-TTg approving the drainage plan of the city to 2030, vision to 2050.

To further increase awareness and promote the adoption of NBS in tackling and mitigating the impact of urbanisation, climate change and wastewater management issues, RMIT Vietnam hosted the APN Vietnam national workshop 2023 titled “Scalability and mass adoption for NBS solutions: Challenges and opportunities” in August 2023. The workshop attracted leading local universities on these issues such as Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (Vietnam National University), Can Tho University and International University.

In the APN Vietnam national workshop 2023 hosted by RMIT Vietnam, various nature-based solutions have been proposed.

In the workshop, various nature-based solutions have been proposed including constructed floating wetlands and green roof systems for highly urbanised cities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho. This is a part of the Asia Pacific Network for global change research grant for the project “Integrated assessment of existing practices and development of pathways for the effective integration of nature-based water treatment in urban areas in Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Vietnam.”

At the end of the workshop, Dr Pham Nguyen Anh Huy, RMIT Senior Lecturer in Finance and Fintech-Crypto Hub founder, emphasised the importance of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, satellite technology, sensor and blockchain in these projects. He stated that these technologies can improve NBS projects and the monitoring, reporting, and verifying process by reducing the costs, improving the efficiency and ensuring data integrity.

Story: Dr Huy Pham and June Pham

Business and management

Media Release

23 August 2023