Carriage, Handling and Storage of Dangerous Goods along

128 RECOMMENDATIONS
• Elevated levels of heavy metals have been detected downstream from navigation activities;
• Solid wastes are emerging threats to public health and water quality in the LMB;
• A number of ports and terminals built before EIA rules and regulations were implemented
are not required to submit EMP to national line agencies to ensure compliance with
standards for water quality, waste water and pollution prevention.
• There are no trans-boundary requirements for EIA;
• Monitoring of ports, terminals and vessel operations needs to be improved; and
• Cooperation between the national line agencies responsible for environmental protection
and water resources and those responsible for inland waterborne transport and waterway
safety needs to be enhanced.
The MRC has established a Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) in the Member Countries
with the purpose of providing timely data and information on the status and changes in water quality
of the Mekong River Basin. The MRC has published a number of important water quality reports.
The following references were used to prepare the Risk Analysis and these recommendations for the
environment:
• MRC Technical Paper No 15: Diagnostic Study of the Lower Mekong Basin;
• The Mekong River Report Card on Water Quality (2000-2006);
• MRC Technical Paper No 19: An Assessment of Water quality in the Lower Mekong Basin;
and
• MRC State of the Basin Report, 2010.
These references, outcomes from the risk analysis and studies from the Danube River and Rhine River
were taken into account when preparing the recommendations.
6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
AND MONITORING
There are many challenges in the LMB, firstly to determine the impacts of increased navigation and
secondly to ensure that adequate environmental protection measures are implemented at ports
and terminals and onboard vessels to protect water quality and the vast fisheries and natural
resources. The MRC Navigation Programme (NAP) will need to work closely with Member Countries,
key stakeholders, the MRC Environment Programme (EP), other programmes and the private sector to
ensure the recommendations for environmental management and monitoring can be implemented
effectively.
6.3.1 Water Quality Monitoring
RECOMMENDATION
Enhance water quality monitoring to determine oil spill pollution and impacts of increased
navigation and transport of dangerous goods.
CHALLENGE
The MRC Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) has detected human impacts on water quality.
Heavy metals and other industrial contaminants have been detected downstream of navigation
activities. The source of the pollution cannot be confirmed. Currently the impacts of navigation on