Detail Abstract

Current Challenges in Sustainable Management of the Water Supply System in Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

Hanoi, the socio-economic center of Vietnam, where the demand for water supply usage is always the highest compared to other cities in the country. This paper presents the current view of existing sustainability challenges in water supply system management for Hanoi (HUDWSS). First, we employed the concept of a wide-range-application-on-water- management approach, which provides a framework for integrating the disparate physical, socio-economic and political system, system dynamic (SD), to analyze the complexity of the water resources components related water stakeholders and sectors in Hanoi. We then built up a list of mathematic equations explaining the inter-relationships and interactions among those components. We also tested the simulation effectiveness by comparing the simulated results to the historical data in duration of 2017-2020. Secondly, we investigated 206 usable samples in April 2022 in the target study area to see how changes in the water use behaviors of Hanoi communities in the current circumstance of both preventing the spread of Covid-19 pandemic and developing the local economic system. The analysis results showed that the main changes in the domestic water use behaviors of Hanoi communities were consisted of hand washing, bathing/personal hygiene, house cleaning, clothes washing. During the pandemic, 77% of the respondents had a habit of washing their hands for 30 seconds as recommended by the Ministry of Health, the number of hand-washing times a day increased 5-7 times before the pandemic broke out. The rate of housing cleaning increased by 33% compared to before the pandemic, besides the high frequency of people also increased by an average of 3.5 times per week. The average frequency of clothes washing is also changed from 2.43 times / week to 4.61 times / week. The total estimated average water uses per person increased by 1.41% compared to its before the pandemic. Therefore, based on the total population of Hanoi city, the amount of domestic water increased by 471,457 m³/day compared to its before the pandemic. This study finally analyzing the sustainability of HUDSS via several Covid-19 related water development scenarios to propose several recommendations for sustainable development of Hanoi urban water supply system.