Clean fresh water sources in the Mekong River Delta have shown signs of becoming exhausted, and the situation could become even more tragic as underground water is being polluted. River waste treatment system in Can Tho City An initiative applied at Rotterdam Port in the Netherlands has been shared with Can Tho City in Vietnam. Upp! UpCycling Plastic from the Netherlands, via its subsidiary – UpCycling Vietnam, plans to set up a facility to collect and treat plastic waste from rivers in the city. Scientists surveyed five locations before they decided to develop the project Cai Khe Canal in Ninh Kieu District. Sabine Voermans from Wageningen University said Can Tho should consider this a new solution to help collect waste floating on rivers, thus helping ease pollution. In mid-2018, the system will be installed on Cai Khe Canal. Later, it will also be set up at Bun Xang and Xang Thoi lakes, Rach Ngong and Can Tho rivers. The pilot project would cost 150,000 euros, to be funded by the Rockefeller fund. By mid-2019, when the project is completed, it is expected to become a model for non-plastic waste rivers in Vietnam. According to Nguyen Chi Kien from the city’s environment department, the city discharged some 930 tons of household solid waste a day in 2016, while it can collect and treat 650 tons. The project is believed to have important significance for Vietnam, one of the countries that discharge the largest amount of waste in the world, causing serious… [Read full story]
Chinese hydropower dams on the Mekong River are taking a heavy toll on people living downstream. Fishermen in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have been complaining about lower water levels and falling catches. Experts have blamed China’s construction of hydropower projects on the upper Mekong River for blocking fish from moving downstream and trapping sediment needed to enrich the soil in the riverbed. For example, existing and planned dams in China’s Yunnan Province and in Vietnam’s Central Highlands will block up to 80 percent of the sediment that reaches the Mekong Delta, according to the Hanoi-based International Centre for Environmental Management. Nguyen…... [read more]
Mekong Delta to have five water plants to cope with drought Van Nam Residents in the Mekong Delta get water for their daily use during this year’s dry season - PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH HCMC – Work will start on five water treatment plants in the Mekong Delta in 2018 to help the region cope with drought induced by climate change, which wreaked havoc the delta in this year’s dry season, said an official with the Ministry of Construction. Nguyen Hong Tien, head of the Technical Infrastructure Department at the ministry, said at an international seminar in HCMC on November 10…... [read more]
The Steering Board on Natural Disasters, Search and Rescue in Long An province says that flood level in Dong Thap Muoi districts is slowly surging but it has been high.
Tân Hưng district reported that 3,485 hectares of summer autumn rice have been damaged because of floodwater. This year, the district sowed 28,500 hectares and so far have harvested 17,000 hectares. Most of the remaining area will be ready for harvest in the next 10 days.
Floodwater has also affected 5,913 hectares of rice in Moc Hoa district. Vinh Hung district sowed 28,419 hectares, of which 1,575 hectares have been…... [read more]
VietNamNet Bridge - Mekong Delta – the ‘land of rivers and water’ – is predicted to lack water in the future, experts warned at a conference on climate change and water resource management in late September. A report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) shows that drought and saline intrusion in the 2015-2016 dry season caused damages worth VND8 trillion in Mekong Delta. Eleven out of 13 provinces in the region were declared natural calamities. In Ca Mau province alone, 51,000 hectares of rice, 15,000 hectares of crops and fruit trees, and 158,000 hectares of aquaculture areas…... [read more]
Drilling well to take water for daily use and agriculture production (Source: VNA)Can Tho (VNA) – The Mekong Delta region is facing the challenges of ensuring water security, which is mainly caused by the uncontrolled exploitation of groundwater resources, said a hydrological expert.According to Doan Van Canh from the Vietnam Association of Hydrogeology, the region witnesses a fast exhaustion of groundwater reserves in rivers and reservoirs.He underlined the importance of groundwater for coastal localities, saying that this plays a crucial role in preventing saltwater from intruding into the mainland.It is necessary to alternately use sources of water, he said, stressing…... [read more]