Vietnam Gov’t Asked to Draft Plan to Fix Water Problems

The Vietnamese government is asked to draft a plan on improving and ensuring water resources and dam safety in 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045, and then submit to the National Assembly (NA), said NA Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien. Mr. Hien listed the water situation and major problems in Vietnam at the moment and in the future. Vietnam currently has 3,450 rivers and streams with the minimum length of 10 kilometers each. The total surface water flow is 830 billion cubic meters (cbm) annually, but 63% is from rivers outside Vietnam. Vietnam currently fulfills only 37% of water demand for agriculture. At the moment, Vietnam has 86,202 irrigation constructions, including 6,998 dams and reservoirs, 500 hydropower reservoirs, and 300 hydropower reservoirs under construction. The total water flow from all those 7,800 constructions is 74 billion cbm. However, 1,730 have been degraded. Besides, Vietnam has 14.55 million hectares of jungle, with the cover rate of 41.85%. However, only 6.78 million hectares are capable of water-generation. Mr. Hien suggested directions for solutions, including improving the legal framework; updating the national water planning; boosting the cooperation between localities, sectors, ministries; drafting plan on connecting water constructions; making long-term investments on water resources, irrigation system and applying market mechanism on water prices; setting plans to counter water salinization; quickly allocating resources to fix 1,000 reservoirs in two years; and closely following relevant international agreements with regional nations. (Dang Cong San, tapchicongsan)