Deal with the risk of scarcity of clean water in urban areas

On March 22, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment organized a national rally to celebrate World Water Day in 2011 - 'Water for urban development' in Ninh Thuan, affirming the importance of freshwater resources. in the context of urbanization.

The process of urbanization in Vietnam is taking place very strongly. As of December 31, 2010, there were 633 new urban development projects compared to the previous year, if there were no effective solutions to deal with water resources management, country . the process of urbanization will not be sustainable.

Mr. Le Huu Thuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Water Resources Management said: ' The amount of water per capita will decrease from the current 3,840m3 / person / year to 2,830m3 / person / year in 2015. In In the near future, Vietnam will become a country with a shortage of clean water, especially in urban areas . '

Clean water for urban areas is suffering from SOS warning ( Photo: Internet )

Therefore, the goal of this year's World Water Day is to focus international attention on increasing challenges and pressures on water resources from urbanization, industrial development, and instability. due to climate change, natural disasters and conflicts, even disputes between urban water users.

From the beginning of March, a series of propaganda and advocacy activities including documentaries, radio and exhibition on water resources, publishing leaflets, banners, banners and other activities to a large number of people respond to this important event.

Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Mr. Nguyen Thai Lai said: ' Vietnam is not currently capable of coping with all the complex challenges of urbanization and climate change. Practical activities to celebrate World Water Day will contribute to raising people's awareness. Since then, taking the right actions in the protection, exploitation and economical use of water resources will be the top priority task of the Ministry in the future ".

According to the World Bank report, Vietnam is not a rich country in water resources, more than 60% of the flow of Vietnamese rivers comes from other countries. With the effects of the climate getting warmer, the amount of water will be drained in the near future.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged to lend $ 1 billion to implement the Vietnam Water Development Program from 2011-2020.

In 2011 alone, ADB also plans to lend about 250 million USD to implement projects under the Program to prevent loss and loss of clean water; and support 1.5 million USD for this project's technical assistance project.

Currently, about one fifth of the world's population is living in areas where water is scarce. It is expected that urban water demand will double by 2050.

Of all the world's water, only 3% is clean water and only a very small part of that 3% can be used as domestic water.