VietNamNet Bridge - The water supply in HCM City is threatened as water plants now cannot use the raw water from the Sai Gon and Dong Nai Rivers for processing because of saline intrusion. 

 


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Sai Gon and Dong Nai Rivers provide water to plants in HCM City which have the capacity of 3 million cubic meters per day. 

According to the Sai Gon Water Supply Company (Sawaco), El Nino has caused the drought, seriously affecting the water supply of Sai Gon and Dong Nai.

Sawaco has predicted that the water capacity flowing to reservoir would decrease sharply in 2016. 

The Dau Tieng Water Reservoir on the Sai Gon River upper course now has 928 million cubic meters of water, or just 76 percent of the designed capacity. 

Sai Gon and Dong Nai Rivers provide water to plants in HCM City which have the capacity of 3 million cubic meters per day. 
Meanwhile, the volume of water stored at the Tri An Reservoir on Dong Nai River is just equal to 80 percent of the last year’s average level.

The decreased water flow to the lower course, plus the high tides, have led to the deep intrusion of saltwater, affecting the Hoa Phu raw water pumping Station in Cu Chi district. The operation of the Tan Hiep Water Plant with the daily capacity of 300,000 cubic meters has suffered.

The salinity of the Sai Gon River’s water has been exceeding the 150mg/l and 200mg/l thresholds for many hours every day. 

At many moments, including Tet, the salinity at the Hoa Phu Station was so high that the Tan Hiep Water Plant could not use raw water from the river for hours.

Tan Hiep then had to ask the Dau Tieng-Phuoc Hoa Irrigation Company to help by releasing water to drive saltwater away. 

It also asked the Kenh Dong Water Plant in Cu Chi Plant to increase its production capacity to offset the decreased water output.

On the Dong Nai River, the saltwater intrusion has also directly affected the raw water pumping station of the Binh An Water Supply Plant. The plant has to suspend the raw water exploitation sometimes when the salinity exceeds the 250 mg/l threshold.

The other plants, including Thu Duc, BOO Thu Duc and Thu Duc 3, still don’t have to stop exploiting water. However, the salinity tends to increase and the lack of water has put difficulties for the operation.

Sawaco has warned that the effects of El Nino would still be serious, and the volume of water currently stored at water reservoirs is low. 

The water shortage and salinity intrusion will still continue until the 2016 dry season ends. The negative impact will be even more serious in the future due to climate change.


TBKTSG