CIRCULAR

REGULATING NATIONAL TECHNICAL REGULATIONS ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations dated June 29, 2006;

Pursuant to the Decree No.127/2007/ND-CP of August 01, 2007 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of Articles of the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations;

Pursuant to the Decree No.25/2008/ND-CP of March 04, 2008 of the Government defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

At the proposal of Director General of the General Department of Environment, Director of the Department of Science and Technology, Director of the Department of Legal Affairs;

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment issues the Circular on national technical regulations on the environment:

Article 1. To issue together with this Circular two (02) national technical regulations on the environment:

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2. QCVN 44:2012/BTNMT - National Technical Regulation on offshore SALTWATER quality.

Article 2. This Circular takes effect from December 12, 2012.

Article 3. Director General of the General Department of Environment and heads of units of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Directors of the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government and relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for the implementation of this Circular./.

FOR THE MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER




Bui Cach Tuyen

QCVN 43 : 2012/BTNMT

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Preamble

QCVN 43:2012/BTNMT compiled by the compilation committee of national technical regulations on water quality, the General Department of Environment, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Legal Affairs submitted for approval and issued together the Circular No.10/2012/TT-BTNMT dated October 12, 2012 of the Minister of Natural resources and Environment.

NATIONAL TECHNICAL REGULATION

ON SEDIMENT QUALITY

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.1. Scope of governing

1.1.1. This regulation specifies the limit value of sediment quality parameters of freshwater, saltwater and brackish water.

1.1.2. This regulation is applied to assess, control sediment quality for the purpose of protecting aquatic life.

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1.3. Interpretation of terms

In this Regulation, the following terms shall be construed as follows:

Sediment is the material particles located at a depth of not more than 15 cm from the bottom surface of the water, the particles with size of smaller than 2 mm or passing through a sieve with 2 mm diameter hole (U.S. # 10 sieve).

2. TECHNICAL REGULATIONS

Limit values of the sediment quality parameters are specified in the table below.

Table: Limit values of the parameters in the sediment

No.

Parameters

Unit (by dry volume)

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Freshwater sediment

Saltwater and brackish water sediments

1

Arsenic (As)

mg/kg

17.0

41.6

2

Cadmium (Cd)

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3.5

4.2

3

Lead (Pb)

mg/kg

91.3

112

4

Zinc (Zn)

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315

271

5

Mercury (Hg)

mg/kg

0.5

0.7

6

Total Chromium (Cr)

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90

160

7

Copper (Cu)

mg/kg

197

108

8

Total hydrocarbons

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100

100

9

Chlordane

mg/kg

8.9

4.8

10

DDD

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8.5

7.8

11

DDE

g/kg

6.8

374.0

12

DDT

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4.8

4.8

13

Dieldrin

g/kg

6.7

4.3

14

Endrin

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62.4

62.4

15

Heptachlor epoxide

g/kg

2.7

2.7

16

Lindan

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1.4

1.0

17

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)*

g/kg

277

189

18

Dioxin and Furan

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21.5

21.5

19

The compounds of multi-ring aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)

19.1

Acenaphthene

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88.9

88.9

19.2

Acenaphthylene

g/kg

128

128

19.3

Athracene

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245

245

19.4

Benzo[a] anthracen

g/kg

385

693

19.5

Benzo[e]pyrene

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782

763

19.6

Chryren

g/kg

862

846

19.7

Dibenzo[a,h]anthracene

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135

135

19.8

Fluroanthene

g/kg

2355

1494

19.9

Fluorene

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144

144

19.10

2-Methylnaphthalene

g/kg

201

201

19.11

Naphthalene

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391

391

19.12

Phenanthrene

g/kg

515

544

19.13

Pyrene

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875

1398

Note:

(*) Total PCB: total concentrations of the PCBs 28; 52; 101; 118; 138; 153; 180.

3. METHOD OF DETERMINATION

3.1. Sampling to determine sediment quality is applied under the guidance of the following national standards:

- TCVN 6663 - 3:2000 - Water quality - Sampling. Part 13: Guidance on sampling of sludge, sewage sludge and related sludge.

- TCVN 6663 - 15: 2004 - Water quality - Sampling. Guidance on storage and handling of sludge and sediment sample.

3.2. Valuation methods of sediment quality parameters comply with the following national standards:

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- TCVN 6496:2009 - Soil quality - Determination of chromium, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc in soil extracts by spring water - The methods of spectrometry of flame and un-flame atomic absorption.

- TCVN 8467:2010 (ISO 20280:2007) Soil quality - Determination of arsenic, antimony and selenium in soil extracts of spring water by means of atomic absorption spectrometry in thermal power technique or creation of hydride.

- TCVN 8882: 2011 (ISO 16772: 2004) Soil quality - Determination of mercury in soil extract of spring water using spectrometry of cold - vapor atomic absorption or cold - vapor fluorescence atomic absorption spectroscopy.

- TCVN 8601: 2009 (ISO 10382: 2002) Soil quality - Determination of plant protection chemical of organic chlorine and polychlorinated biphenyls - Gas chromatographic method with electron trap detector.

3.3. Accepted the methods of guiding analysis in the international standards with an accuracy equal to or higher than the standards cited in section 3.2 and in the absence of national standards for the analysis of parameters specified in this Regulation.

4. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

4.1. The State management agencies on environment are responsible for dissemination, guidance, inspection, and monitoring of the implementation of this Regulation.

4.2. Where the national standards on the method for determination referred in this Regulation are amended, supplemented or replaced, apply the new standards.

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NATIONAL TECHNICAL REGULATION ON OFFSHORE SALTWATER QUALITY

Preamble

QCVN 44:2012/BTNMT compiled by the compilation committee of national technical regulations on water quality, the General Department of Environment, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Legal Affairs submitted for approval and issued together the Circular No.10/2012/TT-BTNMT dated October 12, 2012 of the Minister of Natural resources and Environment

NATIONAL TECHNICAL REGULATION

ON OFFSHORE SALTWATER

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.1. Scope of governing

1.1.1. This Regulation specifies the limit value of offshore saltwater quality parameters.

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1.1.3. Not to apply to the islands offshore locations, the exploitation and exploration of oil and gas within a radius of less than or equal to 1 km.

1.2. Application subjects

This Regulation is applied to all organizations and individuals that have activities related to offshore water quality.

1.3. Interpretation of terms

In this Regulation, the following terms shall be construed as follows:

Offshore saltwater is saltwater in the offshore sea area. Offshore sea area is calculated from the line of 44.25 km away from coast (equivalent to 24 nautical miles) to the outer limit of the waters of Vietnam.

2. TECHNICAL REGULATIONS

Limit value of the offshore water quality parameters is specified in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Limit value of the parameters in offshore sea water

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Parameters

Unit

Limit values

1

Total radioactivity

pH

7.5 – 8.5

2

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20

3

Arsenic (As)

5

4

Mercury (Hg)

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5

Cadmium (Cd)

1

6

Total Chromium (Cr)

50

7

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10

8

Lead (Pb)

5

9

Tributyl tin (TBT)

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10

Cyanide (CN)

5

11

Total compounds of multi-ring aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (*)

0.3

12

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120

13

Total mineral oil, grease

300

14

The organic chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and chlorobenzene (**)

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15

Total radioactivity 

Becquerel/I

0.1

16

Total radioactivity 

Becquerel/I

1.0

Note:

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(**); Substances and detection limit of the analytical method according to the TCVN 9241: 2012 (ISO 6468: 1996) Water quality - Determination of organic chlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorobenzene - gas chromatographic method after extracting liquid - liquid.

3. METHOD FOR DETERMINATION

3.1. Sampling to determine the offshore seawater quality is applied under the guidance of the National Standards:

- TCVN 5998:1995 (ISO 5667-9:1987) Water quality - Sampling. Guidance on sampling saltwater.

- TCVN 6663-3:2008 (ISO 5667-3:2003) Water quality - Sampling. Part 3: Guidance on storage and handling of samples.

3.2. Analytical method to determine the offshore seawater quality parameters is conducted under the guidance of the national standards:

- TCVN 6492:2011 Water quality - Determination of pH.

- TCVN 6626:2000 Water quality - Determination of arsenic - spectrometric measuring method of Atomic absorption (hydride technique);

- TCVN 7877:2008 (ISO 5666 -1999) Water quality - Determination of mercury;

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- TCVN 6222:2008 Water quality - Determination of chromium - Atomic absorption spectrometric measuring method;

- TCVN 6665:2011 (ISO 11885:2007) Water quality - Determination of selected elements by induction couple plasma - optical emission spectrum (ICP-OES);

- TCVN 7723: 2007 (ISO 14403: 2003) Water quality - Determination of total cyanide and free cyanide by continuous flow analysis;

- TCVN 6199-1:1995 (ISO 8165/1: 1992) Water quality - Determination of optional chemotherapy single phenols. Part 1: Gas chromatographic method after enrichment by extraction;

- TCVN 7875:2008 Water - Determination of oil and grease - infrared projection method;

- TCVN 9241: 2012 (ISO 6468: 1996) Water quality - Determination of organic chlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorobenzene - gas chromatographic method after liquid extraction.

3.3. Accepted the methods of analysis guided in the international standards with an accuracy equal to or higher than the standards cited in section 3.2 and in the absence of national standards for the analysis of parameters specified in this Regulation.

4. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

4.1. The State management agencies are responsible for dissemination, guidance, inspection, and monitoring of the implementation of this Regulation.

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Note:

(*): The PAHs need to be analized: naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, athracene, fluroanthene, pyrenees, benzo [a] anthracene, chryrene, benzo [e] pyrene, dibenzo [a, h] anthracene.

(**) The substances and the detection limit of the analytical methods according to the TCVN 9241: 2012 (ISO 6468: 1996) Water quality - Determination of organic chlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls and clorobenzene - gas chromatographic method after liquid extraction –liquid.