Vietnam currently has 94,005 households facing shortage of clean water due to drought and salinization, according to the Directorate of Water Resources, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Accordingly, the south-central region has 29,000 such families, the southeast region and the Central Highlands have 5,157 and 6,968 families with the problem, respectively. The Mekong River Delta has the biggest trouble with 52,880 households lacking clean water. In the peak time, the figure had risen up to 96,000 households. The drought and sanitization also hurt agricultural production, with 258 hectares in the south-central region, 108 hectares in the southeast region, 18,489 hectares in Central Highlands, and 58,000 hectares in the Mekong River Delta. (Kinh Te & Do Thi, kinhtedothi.vn, cand.com.vn)
