The West is in the 'thirsty' of the drought season

This season in the West, the canals are dry and bare bottom, roads are landslided, tens of thousands of hectares of rice have dried up, people have to bring plastic cans to beg and buy water to use.

During the height of the drought and saltwater intrusion, in mid-March, Mr. Tran Hoang Khoi, 56 years old, Khanh Hai commune (Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau) walked across Cay Sop canal to visit a three-hectare field that had just been harvested. He said that in previous years, the canal water gradually dried up after Tet, but this year the water receded very quickly from December. Under his feet, the canal nearly 2 km long and more than 10 m wide, providing water for hundreds of hectares of caves, is now dry at the bottom. Along both sides of the canal, barges and boats, which are the main means of transporting agricultural products in the river, are now stranded.

The water in the canal dried up and it was also the time when Mr. Khoi's family's rice fields were in harvest season. "Lack of water, this year's rice harvest therefore decreased by about 30%, reaching only 16 tons," Mr. Khoi said. Because the canals were dry, traders could not bring large-tonnage boats to transport rice but had to use motorbikes, so rice prices also dropped. Suffering double losses, this year's rice crop Mr. Khoi lost nearly 30 million VND.

About 3 km from Mr. Khoi's house, Mr. Nguyen Van Ba, 70 years old, also sat sadly in a garden of more than 6,000 square meters. Previously, on average each month, his family earned about 10 million VND from selling coconuts and bananas in the garden. "For the past three months, the river road has been paralyzed. Bananas and coconuts are so bulky that traders cannot transport them all by motorbike, so they have to leave them in the garden for birds and rats to eat," Mr. Ba shared.

Mr. Duong Anh Phung in Kieng Phuoc commune (Go Cong Dong, Tien Giang) uses a rickshaw to transport water from a public tap during the salty drought season. Photo: Hoang Nam

The two farmers mentioned above are among tens of thousands of Ca Mau households affected by drought. Bordered by the sea on three sides, this is the only province in the Mekong Delta region that does not have additional freshwater from the upstream of the Mekong River, relying heavily on rainwater and groundwater. Therefore, the locality often experiences water surplus during the rainy season and water shortage during the dry season.

Provincial authorities said this year's drought occurred many years earlier than average and was severe, causing most canals to dry up, seriously affecting production and people's livelihood. The locality has a shortage of about 49 million m3 of fresh water, and dryness causes subsidence and landslides.

Currently, in the freshening zone of Tran Van Thoi district, there are more than 130 canals with subsidence and landslides at 550 points, total length of more than 14,500 m, estimated damage of more than 19 billion VND. Water levels on canals in the region are continuing to drop, threatening production, and more than 1,800 households lack water for daily use.

Ca Mau is proposing to bring fresh water from the Hau River through a network of pumping stations. The province also proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development soon start investing in Tac Thu boat lock and a number of culverts to regulate water intake from the Cai Lon - Cai Be irrigation system and Quan Lo Phung Hiep canal to supply to freshwater areas. chemistry. This, in addition to serving production, also helps the canal system in the field not dry up and limits subsidence.

More than 300 km away, severe drought and saltwater intrusion left canals bare, affecting the lives of about 3,000 coastal households in Go Cong Dong district, Tien Giang. In the scorching midday sun, Mr. Duong Anh Phung (30 years old, Kieng Phuoc commune) drove a homemade rickshaw carrying 10 30-liter water cans, driving more than a kilometer to the free fresh water tap. Due to the peak of the drought, the faucet flowed slowly, Mr. Phung had to wait in line for more than an hour to get a full fill of water.

Mr. Phung's family is a rice farmer. Because the area does not have a piped water system, dozens of households have to pump water from the canal near the house to filter it for bathing and washing. For drinking and cooking water, the whole family relies on more than 4 m3 of rainwater stored in cement tanks.

Currently, the canal near the house, which is more than 10 meters wide, is salty and the river water level is less than one meter high, so it cannot be used. After transporting water from the plastic cans, Mr. Phung filled the plastic tanks. The family of three used it sparingly and it only lasted about 5 days. They had to go to the public tap to refill it.

At the age of 59, and without transportation, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, who lives nearby, has to buy fresh water from tankers in the area. He said that for a family of 4 people, if they spend economically each week, they still have to spend more than 2 m3 of water, about 160,000 VND.

This year's drought season, Tien Giang has opened 40 free public water taps in Go Cong Dong and Tan Phu Dong districts. In addition, the locality has plans to open about 50 more taps so that people in the coastal districts of Go Cong Tay and Go Cong town have fresh water for daily use.

In the bordering locality of Ben Tre, a salinity of 4 parts per thousand has penetrated 52-64 km from the main river mouths, approximately in the dry season of 2016. Due to the salinity of raw water sources from rivers and canals, more than 10,000 people were affected. Households have to use tap water with excess salinity. Water supply units are dispatching many barges to the upstream area of Tien River to transport raw water for treatment and supply to people.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that salinity has now reached its highest level since the beginning of the season, higher than the average for many years. It is forecasted that this year's dry season will have two periods of saltwater intrusion at the end of March and early April, but the salinity will be lower.

The drought and saltwater intrusion also caused damage to 20,000 hectares of rice more than a month old sown outside the recommended schedule, mainly in Tra Vinh and Soc Trang, due to lack of water. More than 30,000 households in the Western region also face difficulties due to unsafe drinking water.

In the past 10 years, the West has experienced two major droughts and saltwater intrusions. The historic drought in 2016 caused 160,000 hectares of land to become salty, causing damage of more than 5,500 billion VND. 10 out of 13 provinces and cities in the area had to declare natural disasters. Four years later, saltwater drought lasted more than 6 months, causing 6 western provinces to declare an emergency saltwater drought situation. More than 43,000 hectares of rice were damaged, 80,000 households lacked running water. The government spent 530 billion VND for 8 provinces here to respond.