Building a waste stabilisation pond in Danang neighbourhood n° 1, Central Vietnam

Context and stakes

The project forms part of the decentralised cooperation initiative launched in 1993 between the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and the Province of Quang Nam Da Nang in an underprivileged urban neighbourhood area of approximately 80,000 inhabitants. This extremely densely populated, emergency settlement was built to the north of the city of Danang during the war, with no urban plan. In the middle of it, a marsh has survived, and this collects the water for most of the area through gravity. The surface area of this marsh had been falling from year to year, and would inevitably have disappeared were it not for the decision to turn it into a waste stabilisation pond.

There were several issues at stake: purifying wastewaters, the need to preserve the last open spaces of the area, and the desire to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants, without at the same time breaking with traditional practices of growing aquatic market products.

Objectives of the action

To prevent the marsh from being filled in and to improve its role of purifying wastewater by natural stabilisation. This was therefore an integrated project embracing wastewater management, landscaping, urban regenera- tion, preservation of the local economy and social integration.

Description of the action

Originally, this project was the fruit of the joint determination of the city of Danang and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region to resolve environmental; and especially rubbish disposal and wastewater; issues. It was also a reaction to the intention to completely fill in the marsh, whereas an intuitive observation of the locality suggested that the existing aquatic environment was capable of naturally purifying the drain-carried polluting input, provided the inhabitants maintained their existing practice of using it for market produce, since harvesting this ensured the regular removal of organic matter. The project can be seen as making best use of a system which works naturally, notably by making water flow across the whole of the available surface.

Results

Strong points of the experience:

The project is in its final phase, and the first measurable impact is the added land value that the project has brought to the area, which can be seen in the number of housefronts and houses currently being upgraded around the pond since work began. The other positive aspect is maintaining a high quality natural environment in an urban centre, whilst using local skills and knowledge handed down through generations.

The project provided the opportunity to set up a management committee, run by those living by the pond, responsible for the maintenance of the site.

Problems / lessons learned:

It proved difficult to make local technicians feel committed to a purifying technique which was on the face of it archaic rather than innovative. A sufficiently long time must be allowed for communication in this kind of approach, so that the technicians are committed from the outset of the project.

Perspectives and impacts

lThe project was designed in response to a given situation, and in particular to local habits: the inhabitants currently throw little water away. We already know that in future, behaviour patterns will probably change and the surface area of the pond will no longer be sufficient to purify the waste water of all the inhabitants. It will then be necessary to imagine a new technical solution, whilst preserving this last space being used as a genuine water garden.

In addition, this pilot station is not yet operating since not all the aquatic plants have been planted. However, the authorities of the city of Danang are considering a new neighbourhood to the south of the city, at the heart of which would be an other waste stabilisation pond.

Contacts Hoang Long, Vice President of the Popular Committee of the Da Nang City Province, 42a Bach Dang Street, Danang (Vietnam). Tel.: (84) 51 825 063. Fax: (84) 51 822 853.Alain Villain, Director, Direction of the Environment, Energy and Waste of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, Centre Tournai, 45D rue de Tournai, 59000 Lille (France). Tel.: (33) 3 28 82 74 02. Fax: (33) 3 28 82 74 05.

Possible courses of action 6, 7, 9 and 12

Localisation: City of Danang, Central Vietnam
Domain of intervention: sanitation, environment
Area of intervention: underprivileged urban areas
Contracting authorities: the province of Danang and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region
Implementing agencies: Project Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region – Site City of Danang, under the joint control of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region - the City of Danang
Donor: the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region
Total budget: 2,785,500 FF
Duration: from 1995 to mid 1998