Vietnam: River water is over-exploited

In most central provinces, the Southeast, the Central Highlands, the river water is exploited over 50% of the flow in the dry season causing the flow in the river basins to be exhausted.

' River basin water degradation ' - is a dialogue program co-operated by Vietnam Cooperation Network for Vietnam, Science and Technology Association with agencies, scientists and enterprises. related organization on the morning of 8/5. The above dialogue has alarmed the status of management, use and division of water resources in the river basin in our country today.

According to the Collaborative Network for Vietnam, while international water resources organizations recommend that the threshold of exploitation allowed in countries should be limited to 30% of the flow, at most Central provinces, Southeast, Central Highlands . have been exploiting over 50% of the flow in the dry season.

The water resources of the rivers are increasingly exhausted
(Photo: Ciren.gov.vn)

Particularly in Ninh Thuan province, current flows have been exploited up to 70-80%. Overexploitation of water resources has seriously degraded the quantity and quality of water resources across 7-8 large river basins in Vietnam, such as the Red River, Thai Binh and Dong Nai .

Water resource degradation is also due to the increasingly severe climate change in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, according to the Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment, due to many different factors and especially climate change issues, the drought situation will become more severe than in previous decades. The prevention and mitigation of drought has not been considered as a national priority.

However, in another forum related to water use in Vietnam, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Oxfam and the Vietnamese Red Cross, Netherlands, Spain Melanie Miltenburg, Chief Representative of the Dutch Red Cross in Vietnam and Laos, commented: "Compared to some African countries, Vietnam has higher rainfall, however, many regions still suffer from drought and lack of. This is an effective management issue, balancing the supply - the amount of water available and the demand - the amount of water needed '.

Melanie stressed, there are many things that are needed and can be done, in addition to large projects such as reservoirs and large-scale irrigation systems. At the community level, many activities can be done to prevent and respond to drought. Ms. Melanie introduced the experiences of Orissa, India, the community-based community planning for drought response.

H.Yen