Early action against drought and saltwater intrusion

Mr. Phan Hoang Vu, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ca Mau, said that the impacts of drought and saltwater intrusion have seriously affected the lives, production, daily activities, traffic infrastructure, sea dykes... throughout the province. In particular, the most sensitive and severely affected areas are the freshwater areas in U Minh and Tran Van Thoi districts; in terms of the province's natural conditions, these are also the areas mainly affected by saltwater intrusion.

According to the direction in Official Dispatch No. 128/CD-TTg dated December 8, 2024 of the Prime Minister , the first months of 2025 may experience drought and local water shortages, especially in the South Central and Central Highlands regions. In the Mekong Delta, there is a possibility of local water shortages and deep saline intrusion into river mouths, affecting people's lives and production and business activities.

The situation of drought and saltwater intrusion in freshwater areas in Ca Mau province only occurs during the dry season and usually starts from January onwards, potentially lasting for more than 6 months, while saltwater intrusion in freshwater areas can last longer. Drought mainly affects production and vulnerable groups due to saltwater intrusion in freshwater areas. Specifically, the elderly, children, women, poor households, near-poor households, people with disabilities and households living in areas with alum-contaminated water layers are vulnerable groups due to drought. Especially poor women, low-income women, and disadvantaged women are the most severely affected because most of them live on farming, when drought occurs, it will lead to crop failure, loss of livelihood, and with the role of family caregivers and cooks, women have to work harder and are more vulnerable due to psychological, physiological and health conditions.

Be proactive and gradually reduce damage.

The damage caused by drought in the 2015-2016 dry season was over VND1,400 billion; the 2019-2020 dry season caused about VND800 billion; recently, the damage in the 2023-2024 dry season was over VND28 billion. The severity of the drought is similar, but the damage has gradually decreased and decreased deeply, because the locality has been proactive, gradually ensuring infrastructure as well as raising people's awareness in response. Specifically, currently the system of sluice gates to prevent salinity, retain fresh water, prevent tides has 214 irrigation sluice gates and 25 pumping stations to regulate water, prevent salinity, retain fresh water, remove alum, salinity... basically ensuring stable operation, ready to respond when drought and saltwater intrusion in freshwater areas occur. "That is the clear effect of early action before natural disasters", Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, Head of the Irrigation Sub-Department, shared.

The above reality shows that it is necessary to proactively and promptly regulate and reserve water for people's lives, agricultural production, forest fire prevention and fighting, and support people according to the response plan to information warning of drought and saltwater intrusion in freshwater areas of the authorities. Be proactive and flexible in organizing production, adjusting the season, crop structure, and livestock in accordance with water source conditions. Timely convey forecast and early warning information, along with propaganda plans with clear messages guiding specific actions (storing water, food, protecting production according to warning information, crop calendar, suitable varieties and instructions from local authorities...). Proactively mobilize all resources to serve the work of responding to drought, water shortage, and saltwater intrusion in freshwater areas to ensure timeliness, economy, and efficiency in order to minimize damage caused by drought and saltwater intrusion in freshwater areas.

Mr. Phan Hoang Vu said that the work of responding to drought and saltwater intrusion in freshwater areas follows the principle of prioritizing domestic water, water for fire prevention and forest fire fighting; advising people not to produce in areas at risk of water shortage and switch to producing suitable crops, saving water, especially proactively storing rainwater at the end of the rainy season for domestic use in the dry season; effectively operating saltwater prevention works; funding for drought response work must be timely, economical, effective, and in accordance with procedures and regulations. "The province has developed two scenarios to proactively respond to damage caused by drought in 2025 and the following years, which propose quite specific response actions according to each forecast level, and at the same time regularly monitor the situation, update and adjust flexibly to the actual situation," Mr. Phan Hoang Vu added.

Source: https://www.mard.gov.vn/Pages/hanh-dong-som-truoc-han-han-xam-nhap-man.aspx?item=3