Circular No. 64/2025/TT-BNNMT stipulates technical requirements for the structure, national water resources data standards.

CIRCULAR

Technical regulations on the structure and national data standards for water resources 

Pursuant to the Law on Water Resources No. 28/2023/QH15;

Pursuant to Decree No. 53/2024/NĐ-CP dated May 16, 2024 of the Government detailing implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Water Resources;

Pursuant to Decree No. 35/2025/NĐ-CP dated February 25, 2025 of the Government stipulating functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

At the proposal of the Director of the National Water Resources Management Agency and the Director of the Digital Transformation Agency;

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development issues this Circular on technical regulations on the structure and national data standards for water resources.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular stipulates technical regulations on the structure and data standards for information and data on water resources, requirements for information technology infrastructure, software, and updating the water resources database into the National Water Resources Information System and Database.

Article 2. Applicability

This Circular applies to agencies, organizations, and individuals involved in activities related to the construction, management, operation, maintenance, and updating of water resources data in the National Water Resources Information System and Database.

Article 3. Explanation of Terms

1. Information and data on water resources as prescribed in Article 77 of Decree No. 53/2024/NĐ-CP dated May 16, 2024 of the Government detailing implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Water Resources (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 53/2024/NĐ-CP) shall be represented in numerical form, including: spatial data, attribute data, and unstructured data.

2. Spatial data on water resources includes data describing the geographic location, geometric shape, and spatial extent of objects related to water resources, such as river basins; water sources; water resource extraction and utilization facilities; water resource monitoring stations, meteorological and hydrological stations, water quality monitoring stations; sampling points, measurement points for water resource parameters; water source protection zones; sanitary protection zones for drinking water supply areas; restricted and prohibited zones for groundwater extraction; planning zones in water resources planning; cross-sections of rivers and streams; drought-prone areas; water resources investigation and assessment areas; and other water resource-related objects.

3. Attribute data on water resources consists of information and figures describing characteristics, properties, status, technical parameters, and other relevant information serving state management of spatial data on water resources as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article.

4. Unstructured data on water resources refers to data that does not conform to a defined data structure or model, stored in file formats such as text files, images, videos, graphics, and other digital documents related to water resources.

5. Master data of the national water resources database includes data on river basins and water sources, which are uniformly used throughout and serve as reference and synchronization bases among related databases and datasets.

6. Metadata on water resources is a collection of information describing characteristics, structure, origin, time, format, managing authority, and other technical attributes of information and data on water resources, aimed at supporting effective management, searching, sharing, and exploitation of information and data.

7. Data structure refers to the organization, arrangement, and representation of data according to a defined model to ensure efficient storage, retrieval, processing, and exploitation of data within the information system and database.

8. Information type specifies the name, data format, value type, and length of each field in the data structure, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and interoperability of data exchange and integration between systems and databases.

9. XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is an extended markup language used to represent and encode structured data in text format, serving storage, exchange, and integration of data between systems.

10. GML (Geography Markup Language) is an extended geographic markup language based on the XML standard, used to represent, store, and exchange geographic spatial data between geographic information systems (GIS).

11. JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a text-based data format used to represent object and array structures, serving rapid and easy storage and exchange of data between information systems and databases.

12. GeoJSON (Geographic JavaScript Object Notation) is an open data format based on JSON, used to represent geographic objects and related attributes, serving storage, exchange, and integration of spatial data between geographic information systems (GIS).

Chapter II

TECHNICAL REGULATIONS ON THE STRUCTURE AND NATIONAL DATA STANDARDS FOR WATER RESOURCES

Article 4. National Water Resources Database

1. The National Water Resources Database is organized into component databases, including:

a) Database on water sources and river basins;

b) Database on water resources planning;

c) Database on inventory, investigation, and assessment of water resources;

d) Database on monitoring water resources;

đ) Database on supervising water resources.

The organizational model diagram of the National Water Resources Database is shown in Appendix I attached to this Circular.

2. Spatial data on water resources shall use reference systems and coordinate systems according to current regulations in the field of surveying, maps, and geographic information.

3. Main data categories:

a) River basin data;

b) Water source data.

Article 5. Database on Water Sources and River Basins

1. The database on water sources and river basins includes information and data on: river basins at various levels; water sources and other water resource information and data.

2. River basin data include data on the main river basin system and sub-basins classified according to regulations.

3. Data on water sources include:

a) Rivers, streams, canals, ditches;

b) Lakes, ponds, swamps, reservoirs;

c) Underground aquifers.

4. Other water resource information and data include: water source protection zones; water source functions; sanitary protection zones for drinking water supply areas; minimum flow rates; restricted and prohibited areas for groundwater extraction; cross-sections of rivers and streams; laws and regulations on water resources and technical standards, economic-technical norms on water resources; technical procedures and technical guidelines on water resources and lists and products from related scientific research programs and topics.

5. The structure and data types for water sources and river basins are specified in Section II, Appendix II attached to this Circular.

Article 6. Database on Water Resources Planning

1. The database on water resources planning includes information and data on: national water resources planning; comprehensive river basin planning across provinces; transboundary water source protection, exploitation, and utilization planning; and content of plans for water resource exploitation, utilization, protection, flood prevention, and mitigation of water-related damage in provincial planning.

2. National water resources planning data include:

a) Diagrams, maps, tables; explanatory reports on planning, Decision approving the plan, and accompanying legal documents;

b) Aggregate data on current and forecast surface and underground water volumes during the planning period in economic regions and river basins;

c) Data on current and forecast water demand during the planning period in economic regions and river basins.

3. Comprehensive river basin planning data across provinces include:

a) Diagrams, maps, tables; explanatory reports on planning, Decision approving the plan, and accompanying legal documents;

b) Planning zones;

c) Current basic functions of water sources and water quality targets during the planning period;

d) Amount of water that can be exploited and utilized and extraction limits;

đ) Water demand during the planning period;

e) Minimum flow rates;

g) Dams, reservoirs, water regulation and storage facilities, and water source development.

4. Transboundary water source protection, exploitation, and utilization planning data include: Diagrams, maps, tables; explanatory reports on planning, Decision approving the plan, accompanying legal documents, and other related data.

5. Provincial planning data on content of plans for water resource exploitation, utilization, protection, flood prevention, and mitigation of water-related damage include:

a) Diagrams, maps, tables; content of plans for water resource exploitation, utilization, protection, flood prevention, and mitigation of water-related damage in provincial planning and Decision approving the plan;

b) Current basic functions of water sources and water quality targets during the planning period;

c) Water demand during the planning period;

d) Minimum flow rates;

đ) Dams, reservoirs, water regulation and storage facilities, and water source development.

6. The structure and data types for water resources planning are specified in Section III, Appendix II attached to this Circular.

Article 7. Database on inventory, investigation, and assessment of water resources

1. The database on inventory, investigation, and assessment of water resources includes information and data on: inventory of water resources; investigation and assessment of water resources and basic investigation of other water resources; reports on exploitation and utilization of water resources by relevant ministries and provinces/cities; accounting results of water resources; reports on exploration and assessment of underground water reserves by organizations and individuals; information and data on geological structure and strata at drilling locations.

2. Inventory data on water resources include:

a) Diagrams, maps, tables; explanatory reports on the implementation of projects and accompanying legal documents;

b) Aggregate data on the number of water sources, facilities for exploitation and utilization of water resources, discharge of wastewater into water sources (if applicable); information and data on the quantity and quality of water from water sources; information and data on facilities for exploitation and utilization of water, discharge of wastewater into water sources (if applicable).

3. Investigation and assessment data on water resources as stipulated in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Article 5 of Decree No. 53/2024/NĐ-CP, including:

a) Diagrams, maps, tables; explanatory reports on the implementation of projects and accompanying legal documents;

b) Information on projects and programs for investigation and assessment of water resources;

c) Information and data on the results of investigation and assessment of water resources.

4. Basic investigation data on other water resources as stipulated in Article 8 of Decree No. 53/2024/NĐ-CP, including:

a) Diagrams, maps, tables; explanatory reports on the implementation of projects and accompanying legal documents;

b) Information on projects and programs;

c) Information and data on the results of projects and programs.

5. Reports on exploitation and utilization of water resources by ministries and provincial People's Committees.

6. Accounting results of water resources.

7. Reports on the results of exploration and assessment of underground water reserves by organizations and individuals holding permits for underground water exploration.

8. Information and data on geological structure and strata at survey and exploration drilling locations for geology, hydrogeology, underground water exploration, engineering geology, foundation treatment, construction of underground structures, oil and gas exploration, and other projects provided by organizations and individuals.

9. Data structure and data types for inventory, investigation, and assessment of water resources as specified in Section IV, Appendix II issued together with this Circular.

Article 8. Database on monitoring of water resources

1. The database on monitoring of water resources includes information and data on monitoring of water resources, meteorological and hydrological monitoring, and environmental water quality monitoring.

2. Information and data on monitoring of water resources, including:

a) Flow rate, water level, and water quality at surface water monitoring stations;

b) Water level and water quality at groundwater monitoring stations.

3. Information and data on meteorological and hydrological monitoring, including:

a) Evaporation amount at meteorological stations;

b) Rainfall amount at rain gauges, meteorological stations, hydrological stations, and at reservoirs/dams equipped with meteorological and hydrological monitoring equipment as prescribed;

c) Flow rate, water level, water quality, salinity, and other factors at hydrological stations and salinity measurement stations;

d) Sea level at tide gauge stations.

4. Information and data on environmental water quality monitoring at environmental water quality monitoring stations.

5. Data structure and data types for monitoring of water resources as specified in Section V, Appendix II issued together with this Circular.

Article 9. Water Resources Monitoring Database

1. The water resources monitoring database is a database serving to control the exploitation activities of water resources by organizations and individuals, including information and data on: data on facilities and declarations, registrations, permits for exploration, exploitation, use of water resources, groundwater drilling operations, and discharging wastewater into water sources; monitoring of water extraction at facilities for supervising water resource exploitation; periodic reports on water resource exploitation and use activities; inspection and supervision results of organizations and individuals who have been granted permits or registered.

2. Information and data on declarations, registrations, permits for exploitation and use of water resources, groundwater drilling operations, and discharging wastewater into water sources include:

a) Declaration form for groundwater extraction;

b) Registration form for groundwater extraction facilities;

c) Confirmation certificate for surface water/sea water exploitation registration;

d) Confirmation certificate for surface water use registration;

đ) Confirmation certificate for river, stream, lake, pond, canal, ditch, creek excavation registration to create space for water collection, storage, conveyance, and landscape creation;

e) Permit for groundwater exploration;

g) Permit for water resource exploitation (groundwater/surface water/sea water);

h) Decision approving the request to return the water resource exploitation permit;

i) Decision approving the temporary suspension of the effectiveness of the water resource exploitation permit;

k) Decision temporarily suspending the effectiveness of the water resource exploitation permit;

l) Decision terminating the effectiveness of the water resource exploitation permit;

m) Decision revoking the water resource exploitation permit;

n) Decision approving (or adjusting) the payment for the right to exploit water resources;

o) Decision recovering the payment for the right to exploit water resources;

p) Permit for groundwater drilling operation/decision approving the request to return the groundwater drilling operation permit;

q) Information and data on wastewater discharge facilities according to environmental permits.

3. Monitoring data on water extraction at facilities for supervising water resource exploitation includes parameters and indicators according to the monitoring regime for various types of water extraction facilities as stipulated in Articles 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, and 94 of Decree No. 53/2024/NĐ-CP.

4. Periodic reports on water resource exploitation and use activities, inspection and supervision results of organizations and individuals who have been granted permits or registered.

5. The structure and data type of the water resource monitoring system are specified in Section VI, Appendix II, and requirements for the system to receive, transmit, and manage monitoring data on water resource exploitation are specified in Appendix III issued together with this Circular.

Article 10. Requirements for Managing, Storing, Exchanging, and Sharing Data

1. Data in the national water resources database must ensure accuracy, completeness, timeliness, consistency, integrity, integration capability, sharing capability, accessibility, and recovery capability in case of incidents.

2. Regarding management and storage of data:

a) Data must be organized scientifically, systematically, accompanied by complete metadata to serve effective searching, retrieval, and utilization;

b) Data must be managed according to the prescribed data structure model, ensuring consistency, security, query capability, and optimization of storage and retrieval.

3. Regarding data format in storage, management, exchange, and sharing:

a) Data in the database management system must comply with the data types and structures specified in Appendix II issued together with this Circular. In cases where there are no regulations or the data has specific characteristics, priority should be given to using standard and widely used data types to optimize storage and compatibility. For spatial data, compliance with geometric standards (Point, LineString, Polygon, etc.) as prescribed by specialized laws and international standards is required;

b) Data in file format must use open, widely recognized formats such as: XML, GML, JSON, GeoJSON, CSV, Shapefile, GeoTIFF, PDF, and equivalent formats;

c) Selection of data formats for exchange and sharing must ensure compatibility, conversion between systems, suitability with data characteristics, and usage objectives.

4. Data sharing must be carried out based on principles of transparency, control, and compliance with legal provisions on state secrets protection, personal data protection, and intellectual property rights.

5. Collection, updating, utilization, and use of data must comply with legal provisions on water resources, information technology, and related legal provisions.

Chapter III

PROVISIONS ON INFRASTRUCTURE, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE OF THE WATER RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEM AND DATABASE, AND UPDATING THE NATIONAL WATER RESOURCES DATABASE

Article 11. Requirements for the technical infrastructure of the National Water Resources Information System and Database

1. The National Water Resources Information System and Database must be deployed on the technical infrastructure of the agriculture and environment sector, ensuring safety, security, stable and continuous operation, and having the capacity to expand appropriately to meet the requirements of centralized system deployment nationwide.

2. The technical infrastructure must satisfy the requirements for connection, data collection, processing, storage, management, and sharing of water resources information and data from central to local levels.

3. The technical infrastructure must be compatible with software architecture, deployment scale, and centralized system design; ensuring sufficient backup, archiving, and data recovery mechanisms in case of incidents.

4. The technical infrastructure must comply with and be compatible with the Vietnam Digital Government Architecture Framework and the Digital Government Architecture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Article 12. Requirements for software of the National Water Resources Information System and Database

1. The software of the National Water Resources Information System and Database must be developed according to a software architecture that complies with the Vietnam Digital Government Architecture Framework, the Digital Government Architecture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and technical standards and guidelines for software development in state agencies.

2. The software interface must be user-friendly, easy to use, compatible with common access devices such as computers, tablets, smartphones; ensure consistency in layout, color, font, and display elements throughout the entire system; provide comprehensive functions for searching, filtering, sorting visual data, facilitating exploitation and utilization.

3. The software must support connection and integration of information and data with other systems through data services (web service) or standard protocols; be compatible with Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6); ensure the ability to share and synchronize data with systems both within and outside the water resources sector.

4. The software must meet the requirements for centralized deployment nationwide; ensure processing performance, capability to serve a large number of users simultaneously, and meet operational tasks at various management levels.

5. The software must meet the requirements for information security at the level prescribed by current laws; support centralized account management, permission allocation, and authentication; ensure application security, source code security, system logging, and data backup and recovery in case of incidents.

6. The software must provide online assistance functions, record user feedback, and support automatic technical patch updates (if applicable) to maintain stability and enhance system operational efficiency.

7. Requirements for protocols and data formats in integration, connection, and sharing:

a) Regarding data transmission protocols: The software must support standard data transmission protocols, ensuring safety and security. For web services, adopt the RESTful API architecture on the HTTPS protocol to ensure information security during data integration and sharing. For spatial data, recommend supporting web service standards according to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) such as Web Map Service (WMS), Web Feature Service (WFS), Web Coverage Service (WCS) to enhance data integration and reusability. For file data, the software must support FTP, SFTP, FTPS protocols or object storage service-based transfer methods compatible with S3 or equivalent;

b) Regarding data formats: The software must support standard data formats, ensuring integration, conversion, and compatibility between systems. Specifically, for structured data (attribute data), use JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) or XML (eXtensible Markup Language) formats; for spatial data, use GeoJSON (Geographic JSON) or GML (Geography Markup Language) formats, applying the national coordinate system VN-2000 as prescribed; for tabular data, use CSV (Comma Separated Values) format; for digital documents and texts, use PDF (Portable Document Format) format; for spatial image data (raster), use GeoTIFF format;

c) Regarding API version control: Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) used for data integration and sharing must be designed and managed under a clear version control mechanism, ensuring backward compatibility and notification of changes.

Article 13. Requirements for the construction and development of software

The software of the National Water Resources Information System and Database must be constructed and developed based on technical solutions ensuring the following requirements:

1. Regarding the foundation technical solution:

a) Compatibility with existing information technology infrastructure and alignment with the development orientation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment;

b) Technical support and commitment to maintenance from the organization providing the software development platform or service;

c) Preference for open, widely used, easily integrated technologies and solutions with large supporting communities.

2. Regarding the deployment solution and system scale:

a) Capable of being deployed according to a centralized model nationwide, ensuring simultaneous service for central and local user groups;

b) Having backup, data storage, and recovery mechanisms, ensuring stability, continuity, and data integrity throughout operation.

3. Regarding the performance assurance solution:

a) Capable of processing data promptly, smoothly, and stably under conditions of simultaneous access by a large number of users performing different tasks;

b) Ensuring continuous operation 24/7, meeting peak exploitation demands.

4. Regarding the system expansion and maintenance solution:

a) Capable of scaling up, upgrading functions, updating technology, and integrating new subsystems according to management needs at each stage;

b) Expansion and upgrades do not disrupt system operations;

c) Maintaining stability and data integrity throughout the exploitation and operation lifecycle.

5. Regarding the access management and data sharing solution:

a) Ensuring unified, controlled access, exploitation, and data sharing across the entire system;

b) There must be an effective solution for integrating and sharing data with related information systems and databases as prescribed.

Article 14. Requirements for software functions

The software of the National Water Resources Information System and Database must meet the following main functions:

1. System and database management function:

a) Managing users, implementing hierarchical access control;

b) Monitoring access, logging system activities, and security control;

c) Regularly backing up, restoring, and verifying data integrity;

d) Managing connections and integration with related systems and databases.

2. Data management, exploitation, and sharing function:

a) Updating, managing, exploiting, and sharing data according to hierarchical management, ensuring compliance with prescribed procedures and authority;

b) Checking, processing, and storing centralized data in the national water resources database, ensuring quality, integrity, and appropriate access permissions;

c) Compiling, statistically analyzing, forecasting, and visualizing data for management, monitoring, and decision support;

d) Flexibly searching, querying, and extracting data according to various criteria, meeting user exploitation needs;

d) Connecting, integrating, and sharing water resource data with specialized information systems, databases, and national databases;

e) Converting, inheriting, and integrating data from existing local water resources information systems and databases.

Article 15. Requirements for updating the national water resources database

Updating information and data into the National Water Resources Database must ensure the following requirements:

1. Data quality and constraint checking:

a) Data must be checked for quality, format, data type, and technical constraints before updating;

b) Applying a data constraint checking mechanism at both the user interface and server side to ensure validity and consistency.

2. Principles and update procedures:

a) Data updates must be performed within transactions to ensure integrity and synchronization;

b) Important data tables must have pre- and post-update logging mechanisms;

c) Direct data updates through SQL queries without going through the business processing layer are not allowed.

3. Access rights and update recording:

a) Only users or systems with specific permissions may update data;

b) The system must record complete update information, including: the person performing the update, time, action (add, modify, delete), affected records, changed fields, pre- and post-update values.

4. Simultaneous control and consistency assurance:

a) Applying simultaneous update control mechanisms such as record locking or version checking to avoid unwanted data overwriting;

b) Prioritizing the use of business logic validation strategies to ensure consistency before updating data.

5. Data backup and recovery:

a) Data must be regularly backed up, especially before major update periods;

b) Recovery mechanisms must be in place in case of errors or incidents during updates;

c) After updates, the system must automatically recheck data integrity, log the update, and send notifications as prescribed.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 16. Transitional Provisions

1. On the monitoring of water resource exploitation:

a) In cases where water resource exploitation facilities have already completed updates, connections, and data transmission to the exploitation and usage monitoring system before this Circular takes effect, they should continue to implement and encourage upgrades to transmit data via the Web Service method to the monitoring system;

b) In cases where water resource exploitation facilities start updating, connecting, and transmitting data for exploitation monitoring purposes from the date this Circular takes effect, data should be transmitted via the Web Service method, and direct transmission through intermediary systems is not permitted.

2. For water resource databases, exploitation monitoring systems, usage systems, and other related databases and systems currently in operation, they should continue to operate and must be upgraded according to the structure and data standards prescribed in this Circular when integrated into the National Water Resources Information System and Database.

3. Where the content of this Circular regarding data structure, data standards, infrastructure technology requirements, software, and national water resources database updates differs from the provisions of the Law on Digital Data No. 60/2024/QH15, the provisions of the Law on Digital Data shall apply.

4. Where the names of water resource planning documents change according to new legal regulations, the information and data of the new water resource planning documents will still be updated into the water resource planning database as stipulated in Article 6 of this Circular.

Article 17. Effective Date

1. This Circular shall take effect from December 26, 2025.

2. Circular No. 17/2021/TT-BTNMT dated October 14, 2021 of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment on the supervision of water resource exploitation and utilization ceases to be enforced from the date this Circular takes effect.

Article 18. Responsibility for Implementation

1. The Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, People's Committees of provinces and cities, heads of units under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and related organizations and individuals shall be responsible for implementing this Circular.

2. The Water Resources Management Agency and the Digital Transformation Agency shall be responsible for assisting the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to urge, guide, and inspect the implementation of this Circular./.