VietNamNet Bridge – Saltwater intrusion is getting more severe in many areas in the Mekong Delta region and thousands of hectares of rice and plants are forecast to be affected in the coming time.

According to Ben Tre Province’s Irrigation Department, saltwater is intruding in the Ham Luong, Cua Dai and Co Chien rivers 34-38 kilometers upstream.

In the Daily’s observations, since the year’s beginning, all dam and sewer systems along the Tien and Hau rivers in Tra Vinh Province are storing water and restricting water discharge to ensure sufficient freshwater for local residents and farmers in the coming time.

Meanwhile, Hau Giang Province is building temporary dams to protect rice of the winter-spring crop and prepare for rice farming of the summer-autumn crop, said Nguyen Van Dong, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

According to Dong, saltwater will leave a huge impact on farming in Hau Giang, especially the summer-autumn crop.

There will be 7,000-8,000 hectares of rice in Vi Thanh City, Vi Thuy and Long My districts to be affected, Dong said.

However, the Irrigation Department in Hau Giang Province said that saltwater has approached Vi Thanh City.

Meanwhile, according to Hau Giang Hydro-meteorological Center, salinity will continue to rise high from late this month and further intrude the city.

Coastal provinces in the region like Tien Giang, Soc Trang, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau are also witnessing saltwater encroaching on land and threatening thousands of hectares of rice and many other plants.

In related news, though the dry season has just begun, many areas in the central and Central Highlands regions are facing water shortage for rice and coffee watering.

The current water levels in the Ve, Tra Khuc and Tra Con rivers in Quang Ngai Province are nearly 40 centimeters lower than the levels recorded in the year-ago period. The risk of lacking water for dozens of thousands of hectares of summer-autumn rice is high, Dao Minh Huong, deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, told the Daily on Tuesday.

If the water levels are 30-40 centimeters lower than 2012, there will be a serious water shortage, Huong added.

Quang Nam Province is also facing high risks of drought and saltwater intrusion in downstream areas of the Vu Gia, Thu Bon and Ban Thach rivers due to low rainfall and water storage at hydropower reservoirs.

Meanwhile, coffee farmers are lacking water.

Nguyen Van Tan, a farmer in Lam Dong Province’s Di Linh District, said that farmers in the area were lacking around 30% of the water demand. With current weather conditions, water for watering in the middle of next month will be scarcer, according to Tan.

However, in Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh and Dak Lak provinces, water stored in reservoirs since late last year is still abundant, according to the provincial authorities.

According to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, there will be severe drought in downstream areas in the central region this month and next month.    

Massive underground salt-water intrusion has forced thousands of households in coastal areas of southern Ben Tre Province to buy fresh water for daily use.

Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, a resident in Thanh Phu Province's Thanh Hai Commune, said his family had to buy water during the dry season as salt intrusion had made well water unusable.

"We dug a well down 70 metres, but the water was still impure," he said. "We now have to buy about 200 litres of water a day".

Mai Thi Hong Ngoc, a resident in Binh Dai District's Dai Hoa Loc Commune, said her family bought water from the local waterworks for VND4,800 a cubic metre. However, supplies were only available three days a week.

"I usually buy water in tankers from local people who cart it in from wells containing pure water at a cost of VND80,000 ($3.80) a load," she said.

As many as 17 existing water treatment plants in three districts are able to produce up to 330 cubic metres of fresh water an hour, enough for about 30,000 households, or only 40 per cent of the population.

The remaining 60 per cent are using well water instead. And for those who live in salt-intrusion contaminated areas, they are paying for fresh water to be carted in at high cost.

Bui Thi Cuoi, owner of a clean well in Thanh Phu District's Thanh Hai Commune, said salt water intrusion lasted from December to May. During this time, she was able to sell between 60,000 and 10,000 litres a day.

In recent years, climate change has led to the slow infiltration of salt water from the East Sea into Ben Tre Province.

Pham Trung Tinh, deputy director of the provincial Centre for Clean Water and Rural Sanitation, said it was necessary to invest in building a system of sluices to prevent salt water from running into a reservoir in Ba Lai River in the province that supplies residents in three coastal districts.

Erosion threatens valuable coastal forest

The protection forest along the coast of Tien Giang Province's Go Cong Dong District has become seriously eroded, endangering the lives of local residents and damaging farmland.

The 700ha submerged forest has helped protect dykes, farmland and houses of thousands of households along a 20-km stretch of coast in the Mekong Delta.

From November last year to February, many sections of the forest were seriously eroded by sea waves, according to Le Duc Phong, head of the Protection Forest and Dyke Management Bureau under the province's Sub-department of Irrigation and Storm and Flood Prevention and Control.

In some areas, the width of the forest is only a few dozen metres.

Nguyen Thien Phap, head of the province's Sub-department of Irrigation and Storm and Flood Prevention and Control, said the province had scheduled more inspections and handed out more penalties. In addition, it had raised awareness of local residents about the need to plant and protect forests.

Concrete revetments to protect areas that were destroyed have been built, including a revetment at a 3,500-metre important dyke in Tan Dien Commune.

This year, the province will use nearly VND21 billion (US$1 million) to relocate 1,270 households in erosion-prone areas along rivers and coasts, according to the sub-department.  

Source: SGT/VNS