Tóm tắt Luận án Development of evaluation criteria and techno - Economic criteria to ensure sustainable operation of urban wastewater treatment plant

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING 
Do Thi Minh Hanh 
DEVELOPMENT OF EVALUATION CRITERIA AND 
TECHNO-ECONOMIC CRITERIA TO ENSURE 
SUSTAINABLE OPERATION OF URBAN WASTEWATER 
TREATMENT PLANT 
Major: Environmental Technology, Water and Wastewater 
Treatment 
Code: 9520320-2 
SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION 
Hanoi, 2019 
The study is completed at 
Supervisor 1: Ass.Prof.Dr. Tran Duc Ha 
Supervisor 2: Dr. Pham Tuan Hung 
Opponent 1: Ass.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Hong Tien 
Opponent 2: Dr. Le Van Long 
Opponent 3: Ass.Prof.Dr. Do Khac Uan 
The Dissertation shall be defensed prior to the Dissertation 
Evaluation Committee (DEC) met at National University of 
Civil Engineering 
At.........o’clock dated......../...../...... 
Further study may be investigated at library of National University 
of Civil Engineering 
1 
BACKGROUND 
1. Rationale 
Vietnam is characterized by theEast Asia’s 6th highest urban 
population [25]. Fast urbanization speed in Vietnam is recorded with 
forecast on additional one million of new urban residents per year. 
As of 4 December 2018, Vietnam was the home of 819 cities, 
including: 2 special cities namely Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, 19 
cities of Grade I, 26 cities of grade II, 46 cities of grade III, 83 cities 
of grade IV and 645 cities of grade V. By 2020, urban population 
shall hit approximately 44 million persons, accounting for 45% of 
urban population nationwide. By 2025, 1,000 cities shall be available 
including 17 cities of grade I to special grade, 20 cities of grade II, 
81 cities of grade III, 122 cities of grade IV and the remaining of city 
grade V[30]. 
Meanwhile, the scope of water drainage and cleaning system service 
is relatively restricted due to disqualified physical and technical 
facilities both in terms of quantity and quality. New drainage culvert 
system only satisfies 50-60% and 30-40% demand of population in 
major cities and small and medium cities, respectively. The 
constructed wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not abundant 
and ineffectively operated; hence, the treated urban wastewater 
volume under the environmental standards is not significantly 
recorded. Vietnam Water Supply and Sewage Association (2019) 
revealed that, 37/63 localities were supported with WWTPs and 5 
localities were provided with concentrated domestic WWTPs [16]. 
However, most of WWTPswere recorded with operation of less than 
50% of designed capacity. Event some WWTPs which have been 
constructed were not fully provided with wastewater for treatment. 
One of root causes is that the difficulties in selecting wastewater 
technology and connection are faced by the concentrated wastewater 
drainage and treatment projects [11]. 
Currently, wastewater revenue is generated by applying a fee percent 
against on all water consumers in accordance with the Decree No. 
154/2016/ND-CP or drainage service charge under the Decree No. 
80/2014/ND-CP. The Decree No. 154/2016/ND-CP on 
environmental protection fee specifies that the maximum 
Environmental protection fee for waste water must 10% of clean 
2 
water price that the drainage system management and operation 
demand cannot be successfully satisfied. Drainage service charge 
under the Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP has been applied by some 
cities to mobilize the contribution from service users, reducing the 
pressure on the State budget. Drainage service charge applied for the 
households is higher than the environmental fee and varied within 
the range of VND 1,000 – VND 2,600 [34]. Although the drainage 
service charge is high, it is still remarkably lower than that of 
wastewater treatment price. 
Actual operating costs must be funded by the local budget as 
Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs cannot be covered by 
wastewater collection fees. In fact, expenditure for wastewater 
system O&M is mainly relied on annual expenditure funded by the 
Provincial/Municipal People's Committee through the Department of 
Finance and allocated to the Department of Construction. Revenue of 
Water Supply Company is originated from the water consumers. 
Such revenue is held by the municipal or provincial authorities to 
redistribute to the wastewater enterprises in accordance with the 
approved annual budget. 
In urban areas of Vietnam, there are only 46 WWTPs (as of the end 
of 2019) but many of them are not stable and efficient for many 
different reasons (although most them were just built during recent 
10 years). Studies and assessments of this situation are very limited 
and incomplete. Therefore, it is necessary to set up criteria to 
evaluate the sustainable operation of those plants. According to the 
evaluation criteria and facilitate the feasible solutions to ensure 
WWTPs’ sustainable operation, the techno-economic criteria must be 
setup. 
Bac Ninh City'sWWTP is developed from KfW (Germany) loan 
sources and has been put into operation since 2013. Upon 5 years of 
operation, its great contribution on wastewater treatment and 
improvement of Bac Ninh water environment has been made. In 
order to ensure the reliability and applicability, collected data on Bac 
Ninh WWTP management and operation is evaluated in accordance 
with the proposed criteria and techno-economic indicators. 
2. Objectives 
3 
-   Design evaluation criteria for sustainable development of 
urban WWTPs. 
-   Set up techno-economic criteria for sustainable development 
of urban WWTPs. 
-   Apply the evaluation criteria and techno-economic criteria to 
ensure the sustainable development of Bac Ninh WWTP. 
3. Subjects and scope of the research 
-   Subjects of the research: Management, operation and 
maintenance of urban WWTPs 
-   Scope of research: Urban WWTPs in Vietnam 
 4. Scientific basis of the thesis: 
Through theoretical research on the sustainability of WWTP; 
collection and analysis of data, consultation with experts on the 
operation of the WWTPs to propose the criteria for evaluating the 
sustainable operation of the WWTPs. Based on the criteria and the 
importance of each of these criteria, formulate the economic-
technicalindicators to ensure the sustainable operation of the 
WWTPs. Having theeconomic-technical indicators to help the 
operators to find out solutions to ensure the sustainable operation of 
WWTPs is the practical meaning of the thesis. 
5. Research methodology 
According to the objectives, following research methodologies have 
been applied: 
-   Survey and collection of data and documents on techno-
economic criteria when investment project is prepared and 
management and operation of available urban WWTPs in Vietnam; 
-   Analysis and evaluation of techno-economic criteria of urban 
WWTPs; 
-   Development of questionnaire and construction of experts 
and technicians in urban wastewater treatment fields; 
-   Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in 
combination with expert consultation to analyze the evaluation 
criteria and develop the techno-economic criteria to ensure 
sustainable operation of urban WWTPs. 
In order to successfully fulfill the research objectives, the concerned 
contents and methods are summarized in Figure 0.1. 
4 
Figure 0.1 Summary of research contents and method applied herein 
 6. New implications 
-   Design evaluation criteria for sustainable development of urban 
WWTPs in Vietnam; 
-   Set up techno-economic criteria for sustainable development of 
urban WWTPs in Vietnam; 
-   Apply AHP method in combination with expert consultation to 
propose and determine weights of sustainability evaluation criteria in 
operation of WWTPs. 
-   Propose the possible solutions for sustainable operation of Bac 
Ninh City’s WWTP in accordance with the techno-economic criteria. 
7. Structure 
In addition to preface, conclusions, recommendations, appendix 
and list of publications, the study comprises of 3 chapters: 
Chapter 1: Overview (40 pages) 
Chapter 2: Scientific basis and research methodology (30 pages) 
Chapter 3: Development of evaluation criteria for sustainable 
development of urban WWTPs in Vietnam (55 pages) 
General study on urban 
wastewater and sustainable 
operation of urban WWTPs 
Data collection, literature 
review and analysis and 
evaluation 
Quantitative analysis and 
evaluation in combination 
with expert consultation 
Selection of proper 
evaluation criteria groups for 
urban WWTPs’ 
sustainability 
Determine weights and 
priorities of evaluation 
criteria groups for urban 
WWTPs’ sustainability 
Analyze by AHP in 
combination with expert 
consultation (supported by 
Expert Choice 11 Software) 
Analyze by AHP (supported 
by Expert Choice 11 
Software) 
Evaluate and adjust the main 
findings by data collected at 
BacNinh City’s WWTP 
Design the techno-
economic criteria groups to 
ensure sustainable operation 
of urban WWTPs 
Discuss the main findings 
and propose the solutions 
on enhancing the 
sustainable operation of 
urban WWTPs 
(1)   Wastewater treatment capacity and efficiency 
(2)   Appropriateness of wastewater treatment 
technology with local conditions 
(3)   O&M costs 
(4)   Operating conditions of works and equipment 
(5)   Safety and environmental friendliness 
(6)   Adaptability with adverse impacts of climate 
changes and input factor changes 
Technology criteria 
group: 
Legislation and 
management criteria 
group: 
- Wastewater capacity 
and mode 
-Operation 
management 
mechanism of WWTP 
operator 
- Wastewater 
treatment 
performance 
- Management 
O&M criteria group: Financial criteria 
group: 
-Appropriateness with 
local context 
- Water drainage 
service charge 
-Adaptability with 
climate change 
-Income of WWTPs 
- Safety and environmental 
friendliness 
-O&M cost savings 
5 
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW 
1.1.   Characteristics of urban wastewater and operation of 
concentrated urban wastewater treatment plants 
1.1.1.   Components and properties of urban wastewater 
Urban wastewater refers to wastewater originated from cities, mixed 
with domestic and production wastewater from industrial activities 
and services in the city and runoff. Vietnam urban wastewater is 
characterized by 67-85% [2] of domestic wastewater. Domestic 
wastewater volume in developing countries is estimated to be equal 
to 80% of water volume provided in the regions with normal 
development level and 90% of sharply developed areas [9]. 
1.1.2.   Urban drainage and treatment in concentrated urban 
wastewater treatment plants 
3 urban drainage models are currently available, concretely: 
Concentrated wastewater treatment drainage; distributed wastewater 
treatment and drainage and onsite wastewater treatment. 
1.2.   Evaluation of existing condition of urban WWTPs in 
Vietnam 
1.2.1.   Existing condition of urban WWTPs in Vietnam 
Number of constructed wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is not 
abundant and ineffective; hence, the treated urban wastewater volume 
under the environmental standards is not significantly recorded. 
Vietnam Water Supply and Sewage Association, 2018, revealed that 
only 41 urban WWTPs are put into operation with total capacity of 
approximately 950,000 m3/day and 28 other WWTPs are being 
constructed. However, most of WWTPs are recorded with operation of 
less than 50% of designed capacity. Event some WWTPs which have 
been constructed are not provided with wastewater for treatment. 
1.2.2.   Evaluation of operating performance of available WWTPs 
a) WWTPs’ business performance 
Concentrated wastewater treatment and drainage projects are faced with 
a myriad of difficulties in technology selection, works design and 
construction quality, appraisal procedures, household connection 
percent, financial affairs, operating capacity, local monitoring and 
control, environment monitoring during the project performance, etc. 
With low input organic concentration, the urban WWTPs should be 
6 
applied with proper technologies at lower cost, facilitating the future 
scalability if the wastewater characteristics or input wastewater flow rate 
is improved. Energy savings or efficiency, natural resource salvage from 
waste sludge or post-treatment wastewater reuse are not significantly 
focused and prioritized. 
b) Efficiency of waste sludge and odor treatment 
Some projects only focus on wastewater treatment, rather than waste 
sludge and odor treatment. The sludge treatment technologies, mainly 
including dehydration and waste sludge drying, are not stable. Sludge 
treatment is not proper, resulting in bad odor in the area and entire plant. 
1.3.   Root causes for unsustainable operation of urban WWTPs 
1.3.1.   Legislative causes 
a.   Legal documents 
Water resource protection is specified in the Law on Environmental 
Protection, Law on Water Resources. Legal implementation guidelines 
include: The Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP on wastewater drainage and 
treatment and the Decree No. 25/2013/ND-CP on environmental 
protection fee for wastewater. However, overlap and conflicts are still 
found among such legal documents, especially water drainage and 
environmental protection service charges. 
Currently, the codes on urban wastewater discharging to surface water 
are still unavailable. That is why the parameter values in QCVN 
40:2011/BTNMT - National Technical Regulation on Industrial 
Wastewater or QCVN 14:2008/BTNMT - National Technical 
Regulation on domestic wastewater (applied for small scale subjects not 
through concentrated drainage system that is directly discharged into the 
external receiving environment) are applied as the hygiene conditions to 
discharge the urban wastewater to the receipt source. 
b.   Mechanisms and policies of management, investment and 
operation of drainage system and WWTPs 
Implementation of drainage-related mechanisms and policies is found 
with some restrictions as follows: Delay implementation, confused 
application and shortcomings due to restrictions in human resources as 
well as capacity and qualifications of officials from local 
regulators;improper concern on drainage, urban and industrial park 
wastewater treatment found in many local authorities. 
1.3.2.   Management of assets and human resources 
7 
a. Asset management and operation of drainage system and urban 
wastewater treatment 
Owners of wastewater treatment assets and operation management units 
have been specified in the Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP concerning the 
investment activities, management, operation and supply of drainage, 
wastewater collection and treatment services in areas. However, Project 
Management Units (PMUs) has been still established in the drainage 
management enterprises. 
b. Human resources 
The world cutting-edge technologies in drainage and wastewater 
treatment have ...  
Water Resources as illustrated in Figure 3.5 below. 
3.2.4.2.   Income of WWTPs 
In order to obtain sustainable operation of WWTPs, the plant income 
must be collected in accordance with the water drainage service 
charge from: 
-   Expenditures from wastewater fees 
-   Expenditures from the State budget 
-   Expenditures from grants: ODA of various countries, WB, 
ADB, JICA, etc. 
3.2.4.3.   O&M cost savings 
Annual expenses for urban wastewater treatment are very high; 
meanwhile a large amount of post-treatment wastewater and waste 
sludge may be reused. On the other hand, by various technical 
solutions, it is possible to save the energy during equipment 
operation. In order to reduce the O&M costs for urban WWTPs, it is 
possible to minimize the power consumption of equipment, recover 
and reuse the wastewater, waste sludge and formed biogas, etc. 
O&M costs 
Fundamental construction 
investment 
Re-development expenses 
External socio-economic factors 
Environmental factors, climate changes 
QUALIFIED 
WATER 
PRICE 
ECONOMIC 
PRICE OF 
WATER 
FULL 
PRICE OF 
WATER 
23 
3.3.   Application of techno-economic criteria and indicators to 
ensure the operation sustainability of Bac Ninh City’s WWTP 
3.3.1.  Description of water drainage system and Bac Ninh City’s 
WWTP 
Bac Ninh City’s WWTP is constructed at Kim Chau commune, Bac 
Ninh City with capacity of: 17,500 m3/day and night (by 2020), its 
construction area is 3 ha, commencement year was 2013. It is 
recognized as a common water drainage system supported by 
innovative SBR technology. 
The plant is designed to ensure that the post-treatment wastewater 
quality is qualified with Type B of QCVN 40:2011/BTNMT. 
On 25 September 2015, the People’s Committee of Bac Ninh 
promulgated the Decision No. 372/QD-UBND on establishing Bac 
Ninh Sewerage and Wastewater Treatment Co., Ltd with 100% State 
own capital under the ownership of the People’s Committee of Bac 
Ninh. 
On 3 December 2015, the People’s Committee of Bac Ninh 
promulgated the Decision No. 500/QD-UBND on equitiztion of Bac 
Ninh Sewerage and Wastewater Treatment Co., Ltd. Accordingly, 
Phu Dien Join Stock Company held the shareholding of 65%. 
3.3.2.   Evaluation of operation sustainability of Bac Ninh 
Wastewater Treatment Plant 
In addition to analyze the operation advantages and disadvantages of 
Bac Ninh WWTP in accordance with the evaluation criteria using 
respective weights, the expert method is applied through consultation 
table on plant scoring (consultation table is described in Appendix 
3.8). Scoring each evaluation criteria of WWTP’s sustainable 
operation is shown as follows: 
- Expert’s score with 1-100 scale for each criterion 
- If wastewater treatment plant’s criteria are qualified, score of such 
criteria shall be determined within the range of 70-100 scores. 
- If wastewater treatment plant’s criteria are disqualified, score of 
such criteria shall be <70 scores. 
- Convertible score for evaluation = Weight x Expert Score/100 
- Score for sustainability evaluation is Total convertible score of 
Wastewater Treatment Plant 
24 
Consultants are technicians and managers working at Bac Ninh 
WWTP and experts who have investigated and cooperated with Bac 
Ninh WWTP. 
Total score of Bac Ninh WWTP is 75.39 scores on average > 70 
above min level (70 scores). Therefore, Bac Ninh WWTP is recorded 
with sustainable operation by ensuring the actual capacity, 
wastewater treatment level, guaranteeing the economic efficiency in 
accordance with the local conditions (material sources for 
wastewater treatment, operation qualification, environment 
friendliness and safety, etc.), well adapting with disadvantages of 
climate changes, etc., and widely accepted by the local community. 
3.3.3.  Application of techno-economic criteria and indicators to 
ensure the operation sustainability of Bac Ninh WWTP 
Possibility that Bac Ninh WWTP is guaranteed with sustainable 
operation during operation and management of Bac Ninh WWTP 
under the proposed techno-economic criteria is summarized in Table 
3.12 
Table 3.12. Application of techno-economic criteria to ensure 
sustainable operation for Bac Ninh WWTP 
No. Techno-
economic 
criteria 
Bac Ninh Plant Requirements Comments Evaluation 
1 Technology criteria group 
- Discharge 
capacity and 
mode criteria 
-Actual capacity: 13,000 m3/day 
(2016) 
2018: 16,500 m3/day 
-Designed capacity: 17,500 m3/day 
Connection 
percent > 80% 
High 
connection 
percent, 
qualified 
with techno-
economic 
criteria 
Qualified 
-Wastewater 
treatment 
efficiency 
criteria 
Coefficient Kq=0.9; Kf = 0.9 
Wastewater 
treatment 
requirements: 
treatment is 
qualified with 
Level B of 
WCVN 
40:2001/BTNMT 
or QCVN 
14:2008/BTNMT 
Qualified 
(according to 
the 
monitoring 
figures of 
DONRE and 
Lab of 
Wastewater 
Treatment 
Plant 
Qualified 
2 Operation and management criteria group 
- 
Appropriateness 
with the area 
Operators are available in the areas 
Equipment and materials may be 
replaced 
O&M conditions 
are suitable with 
the area 
Suitable, 
qualified 
Qualified 
-Adaptability 
with climate 
change 
SBR technology may be well matched 
with the capacity fluctuation 
25000 m3 stabilizing reservoir is 
available 
The system 
operates in the 
conditions of 
failure, change in 
capacity and 
input water 
quality 
ASBR is 
highly 
flexible. The 
bio reservoir 
is stable and 
able to store 
post-
treatment 
Qualified 
25 
wastewater 
Safety and 
environmental 
friendliness 
The plant is located far from the 
residential area without anaerobic 
treatment works 
Standardized 
isolation is 
applied 
Emission and 
noise are 
complied with 
the environment 
code 
It complies 
with QCVN 
on 
environment 
Qualified 
3 Legislation and management criteria group: 
- Operation 
management of 
WWTP 
operation 
Joint Stock Company 
Asset management contract 
Single Member 
Liability Limited 
Company/Joint 
Stock Company 
operates under 
the Decree No. 
80/2014/BXD 
Complete Qualified 
- Management 
organization 
Joint Stock Company (Phu Dien 
Company owns 65%), the complete 
apparatus is available 
Management is 
complied with 
the contract and 
Law on 
Enterprises 
Qualified. 
Moreover, 
Phu Dien 
offers the 
technical 
support as 
necessary 
Qualified 
-Asset 
management 
Asset management is complied with 
the contract 
Asset 
management is 
complied with 
the Decree No. 
80/2014/BXD 
Strict 
compliance 
Qualified 
Financial criteria group 
4 -Water drainage 
service charge 
Treatment expenses for 1m3 
wastewater is VND 8,000 (O&M) 
Under the 
Decision No. 
451/QD-BX of 
the Minister of 
Construction 
dated 21st April 
2015 on 
treatment 
expenses for 1 
m3 domestic 
wastewater 
High Disqualified 
 -Income of 
WWTPs 
O&M costs are covered by the 
provincial budget 
Wastewater fee is VND 
15,000/m3/person 
Short-term 
period: the price 
is compensated 
by the State, 
collecting the 
environmental 
protection fees 
on wastewater 
Future: price 
compensation 
reduction 
roadmap is 
applied 
O&M costs 
are only 
considered 
without 
treatment 
price, 
including 
payback 
depreciation 
The state’s 
price 
compensation 
roadmap is 
not designed 
Disqualified 
 -Possibility of 
O&M cost 
savings 
Bio-tank for sterilization saves the 
chemicals 
Natural sludge drying yard is reduced 
with energy, waste sludge is not 
reused 
Wastewater must 
be reused under 
QCVN 07-
02:2016/BXD 
Thanks to 
energy and 
chemical 
savings, 
O&M cost 
savings are 
obtained 
Disqualified 
26 
Conclusions of Chapter 3 
-   Select 6 evaluation criteria sets for sustainable development of 
urban WWTPs 
-   Prepare the expert consultation table for evaluation criteria sets 
According to the consultation table, a WWTP operates in a 
sustainable manner when its score is within the range of 100 scores 
(Max) and 70 scores (Min). 
-   According to AHP method, apply Expert choice 11 to determine 
weights and priority sequence of criteria is shown below: 
Wastewater treatment capacity and efficiency>O&M 
costs>Suitability of wastewater treatment technology with the local 
conditions> Operating conditions of works and environment > 
Environmental friendliness and safety > Adaptability with adverse 
impacts of climate change and input factor changes. 
-   Setup the criteria with respective weights, demonstrating the 
clear decentralization of criteria for sustainability of wastewater 
treatment system. 
-   Setup the techno-economic criteria group to ensure sustainable 
operation of an urban WWTP from 6 AHP-based criteria groups. The 
criteria groups include: Technology criteria group, operation criteria 
group, legislation and management criteria group and financial 
criteria group. 
-   Apply the criteria and take the collected data from Bac Ninh 
WWTP to evaluate its sustainability. With AHP in combination with 
the questionnaire consultation data for experts, the plant is scored 
with 75.39 (over the minimum level of 70 scores). Therefore, Bac 
Ninh WWTP is evaluated to operate in a sustainable manner. 
-   Apply 4 techno-economic criteria group for Bac Ninh WWTP to 
specify the plant's stable and sustainable operation after 05 years of 
operation. However, some criteria is not ensured: water drainage 
service charge criterion is relatively high, only considering O&M 
costs without treatment price, including payback depreciation; the 
income is not supported with the State’s price compensation 
roadmap, income from wastewater reuse is not generated. As a 
number of connections are few, the operating capacity is generally 
smaller than the design capacity. However in rainy seasons, the 
wastewater flow rate is increased, adversely affecting the equipment 
27 
operation; sometimes, input BOD is low, resulting in unstable 
Nitrogen treatment. 
CONCLUSIONS 
1.   Main findings 
1.1. The Dissertation has successfully designed the evaluation 
criteria for sustainable development of urban WWTPs 
-   Select 6 evaluation criteria sets for sustainable development of 
urban WWTPs: Wastewater treatment capacity and efficiency; O&M 
costs; Suitability of wastewater treatment technology with the local 
conditions; Operating conditions of works and environment; 
Environmental friendliness and safety and adaptability with adverse 
impacts of climate change and input factor changes. 
-   Prepare the expert consultation table for evaluation criteria sets 
According to the consultation table, a WWTP operates in a 
sustainable manner when its score is within the range of 100 scores 
(Max) and 70 scores (Min). 
-   Weights and priority sequences of evaluation criteria groups of 
sustainable operation of a WWTP are successfully determined in 
accordance with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and 
Expert choice 11 software. (1) Wastewater treatment capacity and 
efficiency; (2) O&M costs; (3) Suitability of wastewater treatment 
technology with the local conditions; (4) Operating conditions of 
works and WWTP equipment; (5) Environmental friendliness and 
safety; (6) Adaptability with adverse impacts of climate change and 
input factor changes with respective weights: 33.7; 15.2; 20.9; 12.5; 
10.0 and 7.7. Setup the criteria with respective weights, 
demonstrating the clear decentralization of criteria for sustainability 
of wastewater treatment system. 
1.2. The techno-economic criteria for sustainable development of 
urban WWTPs have been successfully designed by the study. 
-   Six (06) evaluation criteria groups are the theoretical and 
scientific basis to design and develop the necessary techno-economic 
criteria set to ensure the sustainable operation of WWTP, including 
28 
four (4) criteria groups: Technology; O&M; Legislation; and 
Finance. 
-   The Study has successfully designed the method of applying the 
techno-economic criteria to evaluate the investment efficiency, 
operating performance and adaptability with climate changes of 
available urban water drainage and wastewater treatment works. 
1.3. Evaluation criteria and techno-economic criteria are applied to 
ensure the sustainable development of Bac Ninh WWTP. 
-   Application of evaluation criteria for Bac Ninh WWTP operated 
by Bac Ninh Sewage Joint Stock Company under the asset 
management contract unveiled that Bac Ninh WWTP is a sustainable 
operation with score of 75.39. However, some criteria is not ensured: 
water drainage service charge criterion is relatively high, only 
considering O&M costs without treatment price, including payback 
depreciation; the income is not supported with the State’s price 
compensation roadmap, income from wastewater reuse is not 
generated. As a number of connections are few, the operating 
capacity is generally smaller than the design capacity. However in 
rainy seasons, the wastewater flow rate is increased, adversely 
affecting the equipment operation; sometimes, input BOD is low, 
resulting in ineffective Nitrogen treatment, etc. 
2.   Recommendations 
-   In order to conveniently and suitably apply for each urban 
WWTP in various regions, the techno-economic criteria should be 
completed: All criteria must be quantified to be the basis to launch 
the solutions for urban WWTP’s sustainable and stable operation. 
Total score of criteria should be divided into the smaller scale to 
decentralize the results, facilitating WWTP’s sustainable 
development. 
-   With strengths of AHP, max score weights may be used to 
compare the sustainable operation of urban WWTPs with each other. 
Therefore, AHP method should be further developed in 
benchmarking and rating the urban WWTPs. 
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 
1.   Tran Duc Ha, Do Thi Minh Hanh, (2015), «Possibility of reusing 
wastewater, waste sludge, biogas and energy savings to reduce 
the urban WWTP’s O&M costs», Water Supply & Drainage 
Magazine, vol. 4 (102), pp. 40-43, ISSN 1859-3623. 
2.   Tran Duc Ha, Do Thi Minh Hanh, (2016), «Development of 
operation management program for urban WWTP’s sustainable 
operation», Construction Magazine, Vol. 5-2016, pp. 81-84, 
ISSN 0866-0762. 
3.   Do Thi Minh Hanh, Tran Duc Ha, (2016), «Evaluation criteria 
and method of urban WWTP’s sustainability», Vietnam Water 
Supply and Drainage Magazine, Vol. 6 (110), pp. 74-77, ISSN 
1859-3623. 
4.   Do Thi Minh Hanh, Tran Duc Ha, (2019), «Combination of 
AHP and expert consultation to design the evaluation criteria of 
urban WWTP’s sustainable operation», Environment and Urban 
Magazine, Vol. 120+121, pp. 38-43 and Vol. 124, PP. 42-48, 
ISSN 1859-3674.