Farms and households in many Mekong Delta provinces are suffering fresh water shortages because of an early drought and seawater intrusion.
Residents of Binh Dai District, Ben Tre Province have complained about the fresh water shortages saying that they had to pay exorbitant prices of up to VND40,000 per cubic meter.
Tran Thi Che, a resident in Hamlet 7, said: “We have to buy water twice a week. While it sell for just VND3,000-6,000 per cubic meter in urban areas, we have to pay as much as VND80,000 for a water truck of 2 cubic meters.”
About 10,400 residents in Thanh Phuoc Commune were also suffering shortages, said the commune People’s Committee, with many other communes like Thua Duc and Thoi Thuan also affected.
In Kien Giang Province, a resident of An Son Commune in Kien Hai District, Duong Van Hien, said: “During the past month, every household here had to buy water for VND3,000 per 30 liter, an increase of VND1,000 from the last dry season.”
This situation will last until May, when the rainy season comes, he said.
Meanwhile, salination problems in the Mekong Delta were on the rise.
”Sea water has penetrated inland about 30-35 km,” said Nguyen Thien Phap, head of the Tien Giang Province Sub-department of Irrigation.
If the problem is not fixed, as many as 6,000 hectares of winter-spring crop will be seriously damaged, he said.
The department has been working with local authorities and local residents to access emergency fresh water supplies from the Xuan Hoa water inlet sluice in Cho Gao District to supply the province.
The department had to expand its pump system to help farmers irrigate crops.
In Ben Tre Province, the seawater has traveled 30 km inland, reaching Vang Quoi Commune of Binh Dai District, and Tan Loi Commune of Giong Trom District, the provincial Hydrometeorological Forecasting Center reported.
The agency warned the situation would get worse by April or May, when the salt could penetrate as far as 60 km from the coast.
Bui Thanh Liem, head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Cho Lach District, said district authorities were acting to protect about 10,000 hectare of flowers and fruit from salination.
In Bac Lieu Province, deputy director of the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Luong Ngoc Lan, said the early drought would affect 20,000 hectares of winter-spring rice in many districts, including Hong Dan, Hoa Binh, Phuoc Long, and Vinh Loi.
Meanwhile, the seawater reached Long My District and Vi Thanh Town of Hau Giang Province, threatening 37,000 hectares of rice and fruit crops.
Provincal agencies have tried to stop the intrusion and were accessing fresh water from the Hau River for irrigation until May.
