VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam may face water shortages in the near future, according to Prof Dr Ngo Dinh Tuan, chair of the Vietnam Association of Water Resources and Environment.

Many people mistakenly think that Vietnam is a land rich in water resources because of the dense river network. 

Statistics released in 1945 showed that the average water volume per capita in the Vietnamese territory was 15,500-15,750 cubic meter per head per annum. If counting the water volume from outside Vietnamese territory, the figure would be 42,000 cubic meters. 

The figures were much higher than the world’s average water volume per capita at 7,300 cubic meters announced by the United Nations in 1999. The countries with the average water volume per capita at 4,000 cubic meters or lower were considered ‘poor in water.

The volume of water per capita in Vietnam has decreased rapidly due to population growth in the last decade.

The volume of water provided by rains throughout the Vietnamese territory is estimated at 310 billion cubic meters. If counting the 60 billion cubic meters of underground water and the water from outside the territory, the total surface water volume would be 840 billion cubic meters a year.

The volume of rainwater per capita in Vietnam in 2014 was 3,370-3,424 cubic meters a year. Vietnam was listed among the countries poor in water.

If counting the surface water from outside, the figure would be 9,022 cubic meters in total a year, higher than the world’s average level. However, 62.7 percent of water from outside cannot be controlled and used in the way Vietnam wants.

According to Tuan, 90 percent of the water volume has been serving agricultural production, while 10 percent has been allocated for industrial production, household use, and the service and tourism sectors.

Water use efficiency in agricultural production is low. Wet rice cultivation consumes water the most, but its economic effectiveness is much lower than other crops.

Under the water sources development program, Vietnam needs to ensure enough water for 80,000 hectares of coffee growing area in the Central Highlands by 2010. However, Dak Lak province alone had 260,000 hectares of coffee growing area by 2000.

As a result, the coffee yield in the Central Highlands decreased dramatically in that year because of the lack of irrigation. 

Ninh Thuan province is known as a locality which is short of water sources. However, local authorities still plan to cultivate 40,000 hectare of wet rice. 

Thien Nhien