The Mekong Delta region faces a high risk of clean water shortage for both production activities and daily lives of local residents due to poor management, according to a joint research conducted by Vietnamese and German scientists. The information was released at a seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City on June 13 by the Southern Institute of Sustainable Development (SISD) and the Center for Research Development (ZEF) under Germany’s University of Bonn. Both foreign and domestic scientists said that water for irrigation and aquaculture farming is predicted to shrink. In Can Tho city, the groundwater level is forecast to fall each year by 0.5 meters, even 0.7 meters in some places. Water sources in many localities are heavily polluted due to fast urbanization and industrial booms. There is also an increasing number of hydropower plants in the region, which lead to severe environmental impacts, they added. Facing the contaminated surface water, local people have switched to the groundwater resources, which cause a sharp fall in underground water resources. Prof. Dr. Bui The Cuong from the SISD said that all activities to manage land and water sources have great influences on the population and land areas, as well as the use and quality of the land and water sources. Therefore, studies of socio-economic impacts on water source management should always take into account the diversity of local people’s livelihoods, Mr. Cuong said. (Nong Thon Ngay Nay – Countryside Today June 14 p2)
