"I have lived here for some decades, this is the first time I see the canal has dried to the bottom" - A resident in Go Cong Tay said.
The Covid-19 virus is not the only crisis in Vietnam this year. The drought 2020 has broken all records of previous drought seasons including the big drought in 2016. Saline water came earlier, with less rainfall and the lower amount of water from the upper Mekong placed the Mekong Delta in a serious situation of fresh water shortage, affected to production and daily life of the people.
Picture to the right: A local person is picking vegetables at the bottom of the dried canal in Go Cong Tay
There are different reasons for the current drought. First and foremost, the rainfall is 84% lower than the average for many years. Also, because of dams, the amount of water flowing in the Mekong River from China has decreased, reducing the amount of water flowing into the Mekong Delta by 19% compared to February 2016. Thirdly, because of the massive groundwater exploitation the saline water from the sea went deeply into the inland. In addition, due to low floods and low sediment load in the Mekong, the estuary areas have been eroded more deeply, creating conditions for rising salinity. The average tidal water level in the Mekong Delta coastal area also tends to be higher before due to Climate Change and higher sealevel.
The impacts are bigger than in 2016.
The result of this is that salty water has entered up to 130 km from the sea into the rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta. Five of the 12 provinces has declared an emergency situation (Kien Giang, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Ca Mau and Long) and it is affecting the freshwater supplies of many million people.
Comparition between dry season 2016 and 20202
Despite the experience learned in 2016 and many places actively taking precautions, the damage from the drought still occurred. The loss is significant. Many thousand hectars of rice crop has been damaged by the salty water. In Ben Tre more than 20,000 hectares of fruit trees are placed in a "red alert" situation where irrigation water is lacking. Many fruit gardens have died branches, dried leaves, fallen fruits due to long periods of no water for irrigation.
Public water intake point in Tan Phu Dong
Tien Giang, a province where Mission Alliance is working, is one of the localities most affected by saline intrusion. Even in the freshwater area of Go Cong district, rice is suffering because there is no fresh water and the risk of reducing productivity is very high. Saline water has intrusted as far as Cai Be district, which is located upstream of the Tien River. In Cai Lay district, many durian trees have withered and fallen. The shortage of fresh water has been serious, people have to rent a car to travel far to get fresh water, resulting in water prices up to 300,000 VND / m3 (up from 5-10 times higher than before). In some areas government is providing emergency drinking water supplies.
Dried canals for lemon grass in Tan Phu Dong
Recent solutions from gorvement and local authorities
- Encourage people to actively store water in ponds, tanks and basins and to have an economical and efficient use of domestic water.
- Establish salt measurement points on rivers, canals and water supply plants to operate water supply and storage facilities in a good way.
- Investing in expanding the network of water supply pipelines, providing saltwater filtration equipment. Expanding public water supply points to serve the poor for free
- invest in larger scale, longer term infrastructure projects, such as construction of dams and pumping stations to prevent salinity and keep fresh water. Operating and organizing pumps to store water on in-field channels. Organize the dredging of water intake, sewer and canal systems.
- Calling international organizations and private enterprises to support water storage jars and household water treatment equipment for the affected people, priority to the poor,
What Mission Alliance is doing to help
Mission Alliance in Vietnam works with climate change adaptation livelihood activities. We support partners with livelihood diversification, with information about water saving and water storage, and providing water storage tanks for people. “Community groups for climate change” have been established in Tien Giang and Tra Vinh provinces with the aim to encourage people to commit to voluntarily improve their behavior to cope with climate change. Promoting behaviors related to freshwater storage, for example in large jars or containers, and reusing domestic water such as using rice water to irrigate vegetables. As a results, even poor households have suceeded in storing rainwater for themselves even when there is a high demand of using domestic water due to lack of rain and deeply saline intrusion.
In order to support poor farmers in Tien Giang doing improved extensive rice shrimp farming, NMAV cooperate with local authority to support them to buy shrimp post larvae and rice seed. This model is considered resilient to climate change impacts in terms of ensuring food security, being better able to adapt to extreme weather events in Tan Phu Dong. The model considered that is environmental friendly production in the context of the increasingly complex disease situation, that can help farmers can create a key economic resource of shrimp and rice on the same production area Indeed, in spite of the early drought and the loss of rice in the end of 2019, farmers still harvested rice with high yield and profit. As a result, almost of households with monthly savings can help them reinvest in farming.
“I am very happy because I have store fresh water for domestic using of my 4-members family” – Ms. Hien in Phu Dong said
At the end of 2019, NMA-V and local partners decided to supply 3000 liter emergency plastic jars for poor households living far away from tap water and in danger of lacking freshwater. People pumped water from unsalted canals into the jars to prepare before the dry season. Therefore, people have water to serve for washing and drinking for cattle, to reduce the damage caused during this year’s extraordinary drought.
By Nguyen Tuan VU, Climate Change project leader, Mission Alliance
