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The study aimed to assess the surface water quality in the Hau Giang province in 2021 at 44 locations (with a frequency of 5 times per year) using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Cluster Analysis (CA) and GIS. Surface water quality was compared with the national technical regulation on surface water quality (QCVN 08-MT:2015/ BTNMT, column A1) and Water Quality Index (WQI). The results showed that the surface water quality parameters of total suspended solids, organic matters, nutrients, coliform, and Fe far exceeded the allowable limits, while the Cl -, color, and CNparameters were within the allowable limits of QCVN 08-MT:2015/BTNMT, column A1. The values of WQI showed that the water quality of the Hau Giang province ranged from poor to excellent. The water quality at the Vam Cai Dau and Hau River areas could only be exploited for water supply, but appropriate treatment is needed. CA divided the monitoring months into three distinct clusters and reduced the sampling sites from 44 to 33 locations, reducing 25% of monitoring cost per year. PCA revealed three main factors which could explain 69.0% of the variation in water quality. The water pollution sources were mainly industrial and agricultural discharges, domestic and urban activities, transportation activities, salinity, hydrological conditions and water runoff. The current findings provide useful information which support local environmental managers and water supply companies for safe and sustainable.

This paper outlines the prerequisites and process of establishing of a community-based energy centre for sustainable agriculture practices in a rural village in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. The centre was constructed by community consensus building and consisted of two main components including a community house and a community-biogas production system. The community house acts as a place where local people organize community activities such as traditional festivals and the production local products for local markets as well as community tourism. The community-biogas production system consists of a 41,6 m3 large biogas digester. The digester utilizes collected bio-degraded organic wastes from the local households and waste from animal husbandry as well as additional available green biomass such as water hyacinth. Methane produced will be used for cooking activities at the centre and delivered to the households in the community. Local people have contributed their own labours to build and manage the community-energy centre. Capacity building for the community is supported by experts of universities in both Vietnam and Japan. The community further intents to self-organize themselves to earn benefits through sustainable agricultural production such as planting organic vegetable and fruit trees, animal and fish raising, etc. This model is the first step in promoting the village as the “the most beautiful village” to clean up and promote environmental and sustainable technologies in the village. Furthermore, it is also a good option for inclusion in upgrading criteria for new rural development issued by Vietnamese government.