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| A bird’s-eye view of the AquaOne Song Hau Surface Water Plant in Chau Thanh district, the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang__Photo: VNA |
To be effective on July 1, the 2023 Law on Water Resources introduces new provisions to raise the responsibility of water users for protection of water resources and economical and efficient use of water.
Accordingly, the Law offers policies on water resource taxes and charges and water resource accounting, ensuring accurate and full reflection of values of water resources as principles for revision of regulations on taxes and charges. It also adds provisions on the charge for grant of the right to extract water resources for domestic use and the charge for grant of the right to extract water resources for agricultural production according to a roadmap.
In addition, the Law specifies mechanisms, programs, projects, and financial policies and mechanisms for water source restoration activities for use as a basis for mobilizing and distributing resources to restore degraded, depleted or polluted water sources.
It also provides new regulations on development of water source scenarios; regulation and distribution of water sources by a real-time decision support system; formulation and implementation of water resource regulation and distribution plans, and measures to respond to water shortage.
In order to mitigate urban waterlogging and raise the capacity of water storage, the Law provides specific regulations on drawing up and publicization of lists of lakes, ponds and lagoons not permitted for leveling.
The Law also adds the provisions on prioritization of construction of water regulation and storage facilities in areas frequently affected by drought or water shortage; and use of mining pits as reservoirs for water regulation and storage, landscape creation, inundation prevention and control, and contingency water supply.
The full text of the Law is published on the Official Gazette, issues 13-18 of 2024.- (VLLF)
