Localities to reinforce rural water infrastructure after the merger

After the merger, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of An Giang became the key agency responsible for comprehensive management of rural clean water supply across the province. Currently, An Giang has 238 centralized water supply systems serving around 665,160 households, operated under three models: the Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation, enterprises, and cooperatives. Among these, the Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation (under the Department of Agriculture and Environment) directly manages 96 systems, providing water to more than 155,000 households.

As of now, 81% of rural households in An Giang have access to clean water meeting national standards, with about 70% supplied through centralized systems. This is a positive result, yet several challenges remain, preventing the network from achieving full sustainability.

At the forum “The Role of Clean Water and Rural Sanitation in Sustainable Agricultural Development,” Mr. Dang Duy Quang, representative of the Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation of An Giang Province, shared various practical challenges. According to him, the major difficulties stem from instability in local organizational structures and the lack of coordination among relevant agencies. These issues directly affect land clearance progress, causing delays or suspension of several construction projects.

In addition, the procedures for obtaining permits to drill and exploit groundwater remain complicated, even though the demand for domestic water is urgent. The administrative merger has made management more fragmented and inconsistent, while at the commune level - the administrative unit closest to the people - there is often a lack of dedicated staff for rural water supply, with most officers taking on the task concurrently, leading to limited effectiveness.

Many existing facilities, especially those in areas formerly under the old An Giang province, have seriously deteriorated and are operating beyond their designed capacity but have yet to be upgraded. Notably, in some localities, rural water supply has not received adequate attention, resulting in a decline in the proportion of households with access to clean water - a concerning trend as the impacts of climate change become increasingly evident.

Another bottleneck, as noted by Mr. Quang, lies in Decision No. 1348/QD-UBND dated October 3, 2025, issued by An Giang Province, which has yet to fully include administrative procedures related to rural water supply, even though the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has already published a list of eligible online public services. This lack of updates has slowed down administrative reform, directly affecting both management agencies and local residents.

In response, the Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation of An Giang Province is actively reviewing the current system and updating water demand in development planning. The Center is gradually developing climate-adaptive water supply models to ensure sustainable water sources. At the same time, it is introducing new technologies and smart devices in management and operations to improve monitoring efficiency, enhance water quality control, and increase reliability in service delivery.

Institutional bottlenecks can only be removed through unified concepts and streamlined procedures

At the same forum, Mr. Luong Van Anh, Deputy Director General of the Department of Water Works Management and Construction (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), emphasized that assessing the effectiveness of rural water supply will not be accurate without consistency in definitions and statistical methods.

According to him, Vietnam currently has around 18,000 rural water supply facilities, but over 6,000 of them are in fact simple water delivery models serving only a few households, mostly in mountainous areas. These facilities do not meet the standards of centralized water supply systems in terms of both water quality and sustainability. Therefore, statistical methods must be standardized to accurately reflect the real situation and guide more effective investment planning.

As demand for clean water in rural areas continues to rise sharply, while only 58% of households currently have access to water meeting national standards, and just 47% rely on centralized systems, strengthening infrastructure and institutional frameworks has become an urgent priority.

In terms of policy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is expediting the development of a new decree on rural water management. The decree will clarify the roles of stakeholders - the State, enterprises, and local communities - while defining mechanisms for mobilizing investment capital, managing assets, and setting investment norms suited to local conditions. The draft decree is expected to serve as a strong boost for socialized investment in the rural water sector in the coming years.

In particular, the licensing process for water extraction is being reviewed for improvement. Mr. Luong Van Anh proposed streamlining the steps of appraisal, licensing, and technical approval into a unified process to reduce waiting time, accelerate investment progress, and ensure that clean water reaches rural households as soon as possible.

In addition to State funding, localities are encouraged to mobilize community participation and contributions, particularly in areas favorable for socialized investment. For disadvantaged, mountainous, border, and island regions, the Government should adopt priority investment policies while strengthening communication efforts to raise public awareness that access to clean water is not only a matter of health but also a foundation for a civilized and sustainable life.

“The collaboration among the State, enterprises, and local communities is the key to realizing the National Strategy on Rural Clean Water by 2030,” emphasized Mr. Luong Van Anh.