Earlier, the ministry received official letters from 25 provinces to call on a rescue fund of nearly VND2,500 billion (nearly US$107 million) to support for drought, lack of water and saline intrusion fight.
According to MARD, due to an impact of rainfall shortage in the rainy season in 2019, the amount of water storing in irrigation and hydropower reservoirs of the country just reached 50-80 percent of the capacity.
Particularly, hydropower reservoirs with agricultural production purpose in upstream system of Red River and Thai Binh River only reached around 60 percent of its capacity, notably water level at Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant was at 63 percent of capacity being the lowest level in the last 30 years since being put into operation while water level in the Central region only averaged between 15 percent and 30 percent.
The water flow in most rivers and streams is also in shortage situation, especially water shortage in the Mekong River is getting more and more serious, even being lower than 2015-2016 with record saltwater intrusion.
The shortage situation triggers peak drought and saline intrusion in the history in the Mekong Delta, drought and lack of water in the Northern mountainous area, midland and plain of the Northern and Central and Central Highlands regions.
In the coming time, rainfall shortage and prolonged hot climate are likely to cause drought and lack of water in the Central Highlands region on the large scale until the next month and are expected to get more and more serious in the Central region until August.
