Nearly 10,000 households in Tra Vinh province are seriously lacking clean water due to saline intrusion. (Source: VNA)Tra Vinh (VNA) - A shortage of fresh water and severe saline intrusion have seriouslyaffected the lives of tens of thousands of people in the Mekong Delta provinceof Tra Vinh.
According to theprovincial Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation Centre, nearly 10,000households have suffered from lack of fresh water, especially in Chau Thanh andCang Long districts.
Since mid-February, morethan 5,220 households living in 10 communes of Chau Thanh district have beenforced to use surface water from canals, ditches or drilled wells for everydayliving.
In the dry season, thewater is salted while the underground water is contaminated with alum, causinga serious shortage of fresh water, local agriculture and rural developmentoffice said.
To cope, many householdshave been storing rainwater.
The authorities in ChauThanh district said the local fresh water supply system only met 50 percent ofdemand and the rest were forced to drill wells.
Bui Van Mung, Directorof the provincial Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Centre, said some watersupply stations built were old and degraded and their initial designed capacitydid not meet the needs due to population growth.
About 6 percent of ruralhouseholds cannot reach fresh water because fresh supply water system cannotbuild in some remote areas, he said.
Proposals have been putto the province to build a water reservoir at four water supply stations usingsurface water to ensure sufficient fresh water supply in six months of dryseason.
It also suggestedbuilding more pipeline systems in areas affected by saline intrusion andprovide plastic tanks for about 2,000 poor households to store clean water.
The project is estimatedto cost 18 billion VND (around 774,500 USD)./.
VNA
