Water shortage looms large [in Vietnam], say experts

12/11/2010

VietNamNet Bridge – Despite its huge water resources, Vietnam will face a critical shortage of water for economic development in the years to come due to uncontrolled tapping, pollution and local and regional constructions of dams, experts said on Wednesday.

The lack of water has in fact existed, as the country’s current water usage per capita is between 2,800 and 3,500 cubic meters per year only, said an official of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Le Huu Thuan, deputy general director of the ministry’s Department of Water Resources Management, told reporters that if the water amount per capita of a nation was under 4,000 cubic meters a year, then that nation was considered in a lack of water. He was speaking at a seminar titled “Vietnam’s Water Resources and Challenges.”

Thuan told the Daily on the sidelines of the seminar that at the moment, Vietnam is annually exploiting a total of over 80 billion cubic meters of surface water plus over four billion cubic meters of underground water.

But the demand will rise by 50% in the next ten years for economic development, he said.

“The required water volume for all industries since 2020 is estimated to rise up to 120 billion cubic meters, an increase of 48% compared to the present demand,” he said. He projected that water for farming would increase by 30%, for industrial use by 190%, urban consumption by 150% and aquaculture by 90% in the next ten years.

Although the water demand is projected to increase sharply, the surface water resources in many waterways, lakes and rivers has been heavily polluted, hindering exploitation and supply in the future, he said.

“If we have no drastic measures for effective management and usage of our water resources right now, then the country will face a severe shortage of water for economic development in the years to come,” he said.

“Therefore, we have to consider a water security program like the food or energy security programs,” he stressed.

Thuan said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is mapping out some projects for building capacity of assessing and managing the water resources in Vietnam with the technical assistance from several international organizations and other countries.

Figures from the seminar show that Vietnam is endowed with a dense waterway system of some 2,370 rivers in the country. Water resources are estimated at 640 billion cubic meters of rainwater a year, 830 billion cubic meters from the system of rivers and canals, and 64 billion cubic meters of underground water.

However, the problem is that the huge water resources are not evenly allocated, with the Mekong Delta region along accounting for 57% compared to some 40% for the rest of the country.

The Dong Nai River basin, for example, accounts for only 4.2% of the country’s total water reserve, while this region makes up 28% of the nation’s gross domestic product.

Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of the surface water volume flows from outside the country like China, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, so the construction of hydropower dams upstream will also pose huge risks.

Martin Junker, an expert of the Belgian-funded CAPAS project to assist Vietnam in water resources management, told the Daily at the seminar that given the country’s economic growth of some 7.5% a year and the increasing rural-to-urban migration, the water supply scenario is changing for the worse.

Therefore, it is high time to look for far-reaching solutions to remedy the overexploitation of river basins, he said.