Environmental Analysis Vietnam (AnaViet)

A significant proportion of Vietnam’s environmental problems are caused by the contamination of water and soil through pollutants. Especially losses in the handling of environmentally hazardous substances or the inappropriate disposal of waste in industries are reasons for these impacts. Another important source of contamination is mining, which in Vietnam usually takes place at the surface. Mining usually pollutes areas heavily through the processing and deposit of heavy metals coming from tailings, like, for example, iron, lead and arsenic.

In Vietnam exists high potential for the reduction of land consumption through the reuse of fallow industrial, conversion and commercial areas. Investors are hesitant in acquiring possibly contaminated locations, since information about possible soil pollution is mostly missing. Under these unclear circumstances the risk of liability at a necessary rehabilitation is often too high.

Despite the sharing of scientific basic knowledge for the development of a register of contaminated sites, there barely have been conducted investigations of the exact dispersal of pollutants. The equipment of environmental authorities with environmental analytics is below-average and the knowledge of experts from public authorities in these techniques is still incomplete. Intensive site investigations in the laboratory are often long-winded and cost-intensive. This all hampers the development of a country-wide register of contaminations with heavy metals and the fast assessment of pollution situations through public authorities

Through mobile analytics and measurement technology for the registration of heavy metals it is possible to examine areas relatively fast and cost-effectively on site for hazardous substances. Technologies for on-site examinations of contaminated sites present an interesting and innovative supplement to the nationwide established laboratories.

To eliminate the obstacles for management of contaminated sites in Vietnam, the project has the aim to introduce mobile measurement technology for the analysis of heavy metals. The project wants to

-build within the Vietnamese authorities necessary knowledge to enable the management of environmental pollutants

-to teach important agencies of the Vietnamese authorities in methods of on-site-analysis of contaminated sites.

– to bring first hardware of mobile environmental analytic in the form of mobile rfa-spectrometers (rfa = X-Ray fluorescence analysis) for the identification of heavy metals to Vietnam

– to set up a study which provides information on the transfer potential of German environmental technology in the area of remediation of contaminated sites to Vietnam