Mekong firms fouling water
From VNN News in the delta…
Annual tests from 1998 to 2008 showed that COD content in the Can Tho River had risen dramatically, with one litre containing only 3mg in 1998 but 28mg in 2007. “But it had a slight decrease last year,” Vinh said.
The groundwater has also been polluted by suspended solids, iron content, nitrite and ammonia.
“During the dry season, the city can experience a shortage of water for domestic daily use and production, and it could continue if these conditions remain,” he said, adding that the temperature was rising in the area by 0.20C each year. The average rainfall had dropped by 200mm per year, and the water current of the Hau River had fallen also, he said.
By 2014, residents may not be able to pump underground water with pipes drilled into the ground, he said. “At that time water shortage could become severe because it only takes 12km for salinated water to reach the city.”
Nguyen Van Tu, deputy chairman of the city’s Union of Technology and Science Associations, said aquatic resources in local rivers and canals had fallen by half and the alluvium content had dropped as well.
He said the major impact had been pollution, but hydro-electric dams on the upper Mekong River that had reversed water flow had also contributed to the problem.
“We should stop the use or construction of dyke systems that seriously affect the flow of rivers,” Tu said.
Vinh said the Cuu Long Water Resource Protection Association should set up a project to regulate the use of water for hydro-electricity and agricultural irrigation, exploitation of water in aquaculture, and treatment of waste and waste water.
He said it was urgent to establish a network to monitor and survey groundwater in the vast basin in the region.
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