Can Tho effectively manages water resources: Boosting the economy

Tighten management and licensing of water resources

Water resources are considered valuable resources serving socio -economic development and people's daily life. Therefore, to improve the effectiveness of management, Can Tho City has focused on planning water resources; conducting basic surveys of surface water and underground water resources; developing plans for exploiting, using, protecting water resources and overcoming the consequences of damage caused by water; implementing works to regulate, exploit, use water, develop water resources; managing drainage space to ensure water flow in rivers and canals in the city.

Can Tho City is implementing many solutions to effectively manage the quality of surface water on rivers and canals.

At the same time, Can Tho City has also tightened the licensing of water resource exploitation and use in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Water Resources and guiding documents. In particular, in the past 5 years, Can Tho City has thoroughly applied the measure that wherever there is a tap water supply system that ensures sufficient supply in terms of quantity and quality, no new licenses for groundwater exploitation and use will be issued; at the same time, regular monitoring of groundwater dynamics in 9/9 districts has been carried out, thereby contributing to significantly reducing the situation of lowering water levels as well as the impact of saltwater intrusion and human activities on groundwater resources.

For surface water sources on rivers and canals, Can Tho City strengthens the monitoring of wastewater sources generated in industrial zones and clusters by requiring all production facilities with wastewater discharge activities to have measures and schedules for collecting and treating wastewater to meet standards and regulations according to the law before discharging it into receiving sources; at the same time, to contribute to improving the efficiency of forecasting and assessing the quality of surface water environment, Can Tho City also invested in and put into operation 4 automatic monitoring stations located at the beginning and end of Hau River, Tra Noc Industrial Park and the city's domestic water supply area.

Mr. Pham Nam Huan - Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Can Tho City said: Through data parameters from automatic surface water monitoring stations, it has helped the agencies and functional management units of Can Tho City to monitor and supervise the water quality of rivers and canals better and better. Thereby, contributing to ensuring water resources to serve the socio-economic development goals of the city more and more stably and sustainably.

Ensuring water resources for sustainable development

Mr. Pham Nam Huan - Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Can Tho City said: Currently, surface water and groundwater resources in the city are being affected by climate change and rising sea levels, affecting the socio-economic development of Can Tho City. Therefore, to ensure water resources to serve the city's socio-economic development goals more and more sustainably, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment is continuing to implement a number of key tasks and solutions.

Can Tho City is thoroughly applying the measure that wherever there is a tap water supply system that ensures quantity and quality, no new licenses for underground water exploitation will be issued.

In particular, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Can Tho City focuses on tightening the management and licensing of surface water and underground water exploitation for organizations and individuals; closely monitoring and supervising the discharge of wastewater from industrial zones and clusters into rivers and canals in the city; restoring water sources in some polluted or degraded rivers and canals to ensure the function of water sources; promoting propaganda to raise awareness of organizations and individuals in fully complying with legal regulations on water resources.

Along with that, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Can Tho City continues to coordinate with relevant agencies and units to implement the Project on Building a list of water sources that must have protection corridors. In particular, it is necessary to specifically determine the scope of water source protection corridors according to function and edit maps to analyze and evaluate water source functions; at the same time, it is necessary to develop plans for exploiting, using, and protecting water resources, zoning water source functions, determining the ratio and priority order of water source allocation in normal cases and in cases of drought and water shortage, and building reserve water sources to ensure sufficient water supply for production and daily life for local people.

At the same time, Can Tho City will regularly review and add to the list of ponds, lakes, rivers and canals that are not allowed to be filled; at the same time, invest in installing more automatic surface water monitoring stations in rural areas to help manage and protect water resources more effectively; build dykes to prevent salinity, open sluices to regulate water sources, and dredge canals to increase the capacity to store water sources to ensure meeting the needs of agricultural development and aquaculture, contributing to increasing income and improving people's lives.

Can Tho City will also continue to closely coordinate with neighboring localities such as An Giang, Vinh Long, Dong Thap, etc. to synchronously implement regulations on management, exploitation and protection of surface water resources in inter-provincial river basins and canals, contributing to creating momentum to help Can Tho in particular and the provinces in the Mekong Delta in general develop their socio-economy more and more sustainably.

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