A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering in Water Engineering and Management

Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2015

Vietnam in general and Hanoi city in particular are facing many water issues that are becoming a scarce natural resource such as drinking water, water uses , environment, water - related disaster and water govern ance. A ssess ing water security situation is considered increasingly important for decision making purpose to improve the situation. The study attempted to develop a water security framework and apply the framework for Hanoi city, Vietnam. In this study water security concept was defined as a city is water - secure, if its water supply has meeting basic needs and sanitation in all community , high productivity in water use, protecting ecosystem and environment, managing and controlling water - related disaster and effective governance and mana gement in water resources. This research developed water securi ty framework as a composite index, inclu ding, five dimensions , eleven parameters, and thirteen indicators . The five dimensions of this framework are domestic, economic, environmental, and water - related disaster, and governance and management which are also considered as the theoretical framework for the composite of indicators. To estimate the overall water security index, an equal weight was applied for indicators, parameters and dimensions. The city was separated into four typical regions, namely the Central, Northern, Western and Southern and was assessed in three temporal scale, 2005, 2010 and 2015 . As a n overall result, Hanoi city stands at low leve l of water security in the first two years , and in 2015 it can achieve nearly moderate water security level .