Environment

Measures to protect, restore, develop water resources in Vietnam discussed

Climate change, sea level rise, saltwater intrusion and unsustainable water use fuel the water scarcity risks in Vietnam, said Tong Ngoc Thanh, director general of the National Centre for Water Resources Planning and Investigation (NAWAPI).
Measures to protect, restore, develop water resources in Vietnam discussed ảnh 1Extinguished guests take a photo at the workshop (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) — Climate change, sea level rise,saltwater intrusion and unsustainable water use fuel the water scarcityrisks in Vietnam, said Tong Ngoc Thanh, director general of the NationalCentre for Water Resources Planning and Investigation (NAWAPI).

At the workshop "Protection, Restoration and Developmentof Water Resources: Science, Policy and Practice" on March 15, hehighlighted that to deal with the situation, Vietnam has enacted the revisedLaw on Water Resources 2023 to change the way the country manages its waterresources, improving the efficiency of water use and curbing water pollution.

"Under the law, water resources will be considered as apublic property owned by the people, and the State will be therepresentative of the owners," said Thanh. 

Nguyen Chi Nghia, director of the Northern Division for WaterResources Planning and Investigation, underlined the pollution problems in manyrivers in big cities in Vietnam.

He attributed the problems to urbanisation, whichprevents rainwater from infiltrating the ground and makes it run intodrainage systems where it mixes with wastewater and flows into the waterbodies.

The director suggested a four-step measure to restore the pollutedrivers with the first involving identifying the causes of river degeneration inbig cities and the next setting restoration objectives.
Anke Steinel, senior BGR hydrogeologist at CRMGGProject, said the Mekong Delta faces several water resources challenges. 

The first challenge involves the increase in surface watersalinity, which is caused by tidal effects reaching further inland due to sandmining and the change in discharge pattern due to dam construction. Another challenge is climate change, which impacts indirectlyon groundwater demand and directly on surface water.

Felix Dörr, expert in land subsidence from Postdam University,said the subsidence observatory installed by his team in Ca Mau province foundthat the causes of land subsidence could be the dynamics of the groundwaterlevel and precipitation changes.

Within a depth of between zero to 13m, a land subsidence of 0.7mmwas observed between December 2022 and April 2023. The team also saw alittle subsidence between 35 and 84m, and even more happening below./.

VNA
#Climate change #sea level rise #water pollution #urbanisation #Vietnam #Vietnam news #Vietnam News Agency
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