In the Mekong Delta, this year's drought and salinity situation is higher than the average for many years and the risk level is at level 2. The National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting said: Water levels at stations on the main stream of the Mekong River change slowly and commonly at levels lower than the average for many years. The situation of saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta depends on water sources from the upstream of the Mekong River and high tides in the river mouth area.
The Mekong Delta rice granary is at the peak of drought and saltwater intrusion, the risk level is at level 2
Salinity intrusion in the Mekong Delta in the dry season of 2023 - 2024 is forecast to be higher than the average for many years, but not as severe as the dry season of 2015 - 2016 and 2019 - 2020.
Increased saltwater intrusion events in the Mekong River estuary are likely to concentrate in February - March 2. Specifically, high tides from February 3.2024 - 10; batch from February 13.2 - 22 and batch from March 27.2 - 7. Particularly for the Vam Co and Cai Lon rivers, the peak of saltwater intrusion is in March - April 12.3; Specifically, there are some storms during the high tide period from March 3 to 4.2024, from March 7 to 12.3, from April 22 to 27.3 and from April 7 to 12.4.
Forecasting salinity boundary depth of 4‰ at main estuaries in the period from February 11 - 20.2 in some estuaries such as: Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay rivers: salinity intrusion range is 50 - 60km; Cua Tieu and Cua Dai rivers: saltwater intrusion range is 32 - 37km; Ham Luong River has a salinity intrusion range of 35 - 42km; Co Chien River's saltwater intrusion range is 45 - 52km; Hau River has a salinity intrusion range of 50 - 57km; Cai Lon River's saltwater intrusion range is 25 - 32km.
To cope with the relatively high risk of drought and salinity, the National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting recommends: "Localities need to take advantage of storing fresh water at low tide to serve agriculture and people's livelihood."
Previously, on January 15.1, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed an Official Telegram requesting ministers and chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to organize monitoring and proactively deploy risk response work. drought, water shortage, and saltwater intrusion in the peak months of the coming dry season. The Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment and Agriculture and Rural Development proactively implement prevention and response measures and are determined not to let passive or unexpected incidents happen. At the same time, proactively direct the implementation of prevention, control, and overcoming the consequences of drought, water shortage, and saltwater intrusion in accordance with actual developments.
According to MDM (Project for Monitoring the Operation of Mekong River Hydropower Dams), for many consecutive weeks, upstream hydropower dams have continuously maintained a water discharge of over 1 billion cubic meters per week to serve their operations. electricity production. However, in recent days, China's hydroelectric dams have minimized water releases during the dry season. River levels across the catchment are almost normal for this time of year. And at Tonle Sap Lake (Great Lake in Cambodia), the water level is about 0,70m lower than normal compared to the average of many years ago.
