Rivers in Vietnam to have no more alluvium due to water shortage

December 01, 2015 | 09:25
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Farms and rice fields in the two vast deltas of Vietnam are forecast to be seriously exhausted in the coming years as an impact of the shortage of water in rivers.

It will be further exacerbated by the intrusion of salt water into the Hong River Delta and the Mekong Delta, the two biggest rice granaries in Vietnam.

This was the warning of scientists attending the conference on the impact of climatic change recently held by the French Institute of Research and Development and the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology.

Doctor Ho Long Phi from the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City said the Mekong Delta is forecast to have a 30-60 percent increase in floods during the rainy season and drought in the dry season.

It is planned that 60 percent of farming land in the delta will suffer from the lack of fresh water, Dr. Phi added.

Besides the impact of climatic change, the water supply of rivers is put under more pressure by the construction of reservoirs and hydropower plants upstream in China and Laos.

Upstream on the Mekong River, there will be around 120 reservoirs containing 100 billion cubic meters of water.

The reservoirs will limit floodwater by 15-20 percent.

Currently Vietnam loses 60 percent of alluvium in rivers along the Mekong Delta because of hydropower plants.

In the future, 90 percent of alluvium for the delta will disappear when all current reservoirs under planning are built, Dr. Phi said.

The Hong River Delta in the north has suffered similar phenomena, according to Doctor Pham Thi Huong Lan from Hanoi-based Water Resources University.

“Reservoirs in China have caused a change to the water flow of rivers Da and Thao in Vietnam,” she said.

“Erosion has badly affected the areas [in the north of Vietnam].”

This will adversely affect the lifestyle, production, and development of the region.

Migration from the Mekong Delta to other regions in the nation is continuing to occur.

About 370,000 people left the delta from 2004 to 2009, with half migrating to Ho Chi Minh City.

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