Some 3,000 households in Cà Mau currently lack access to fresh water and irrigation, resorting to purchasing water from trucks from other regions such as HCM City and the Bình Dương and Tây Ninh provinces.When the Government’s sluice gates were closed recently to prevent saltwater intrusion, levels across the local canals dropped significantly, some even drying up.Up to 96,000 households or 430,000 people this year are now facing daily water shortages, provincial authorities have reported.Without access to fresh water, farmers had no choice but to pump salt-intruded water into their fields, damaging rice crops and reducing production by up to 50 per cent.Hoàng Văn Đại, deputy director of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Forecasting Centre, said the region had experienced multiple periods of saltwater intrusion since the beginning of the 2023-24 dry season.According to a study from the Water Resources Science Institute, under the Ministry of Natural Environment and Resources, over 80,000 hectares of rice and fruit farms in the region could be impacted by salinisation this year.The region has faced severe drought and saline water intrusion before, particularly in 2019-2020 and this year, 2023-2024 looks to be more devastating.Hoàng Văn Đại, deputy director of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Forecasting Centre, said the current dire issues can be attributed to three main factors, including climate change and upstream and downstream factors.Upstream, contributing to the severity of the drought, there are low reserves in the Tonle Sap and a significantly reduced flow of the Mekong River due to extensive dam development along the mainstream rivers from China to Cambodia.Downstream, erosion and subsidence factors are caused by groundwater over-extraction for intensive agriculture in the region, the construction of dikes to protect agriculture lands from natural flooding and excessive sand mining.Added to this, over the past decades, the region has undergone considerable geophysical and environmental changes, with the land subsiding at an average rate of about 1 cm per year, reaching up to 6 cm in some areas.Tides are rising at a rate of nearly 2cm per year, leading to an increase in salinity levels by approximately 0.2-0.5 PSU annually.Việt Nam is calling for a comprehensive assessment of the mega canal project before implementation.The Mekong River, stretching 4,350 km, is vital for millions of people in countries such as China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Việt Nam.The inter-governmental Mekong River Commission, consisting of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Việt Nam, was set up in 1995 to facilitate regional dialogue in the lower Mekong River basin.Home to nearly 18 million people, the Mekong Delta supports over half of Việt Nam’s total rice production and 95 per cent of rice exports, making it one of the world’s largest rice exporters.It produces 70 per cent of the nation’s fruits and more than 60 per cent of its seafood exports, which plays a critical role in the region’s economy and food security. — VNS (ICE HO CHI MINH CITY)

Fonte notizia: Vietnam News