Efforts to ensure that people in the highlands do not lack water for daily use

In recent years, Ha Giang province has implemented many programs and projects to improve people's living conditions, notably investing in rural water supply projects. However, with difficult terrain and a scattered population, water shortages, especially in the dry season, still occur in many localities.

MANY WORKS ARE NOT EFFECTIVE

Since 2000, Ha Giang has implemented the program "roof, water tank, cow", tens of thousands of households in the Dong Van Stone Plateau have been supported to build water tanks (under 10m3), helping to store water for daily use during the rainy season. However, in the dry season, water tanks quickly run out. Therefore, the province has shifted to investing in large-scale domestic water supply projects such as self-flowing water supply projects and hanging water storage lakes. Up to now, the whole province has more than 900 domestic water supply projects, including 781 self-flowing water supply projects and 124 hanging lakes, meeting the domestic water needs of people, especially in mountainous districts; raising the rate of rural households using clean water to more than 96%. This is a very remarkable result for an area with special terrain and many difficulties like Ha Giang. Although many positive results have been achieved, in reality, many domestic water supply projects are still ineffective. According to the review, the province has 342 ineffective or inactive works, of which 153 ineffective works need to be repaired; 189 inactive works are proposed for liquidation. Director of the Center for Domestic Water and Rural Environmental Sanitation of Ha Giang province Tran Xuan Duong said: There are many domestic water supply works but most of them are small-scale, serving mainly households, so the efficiency of water supply is not high. In addition, many works are not invested synchronously, the treatment technology is simple, so the rate of rural households using clean water, meeting standards in the whole province is only over 25%. The inactive and ineffective water supply works are mostly projects invested from the budget with the goal of social security. Therefore, the socialization in management, exploitation, maintenance and repair work faces many difficulties. Very few clean water projects in rural areas collect water fees from people, so there is no funding for operation, maintenance, and upkeep, so they gradually deteriorate after a period of operation. In addition, people's awareness of protecting the projects is not high, many households arbitrarily drill pipes to bring water to their homes, causing damage to the projects. On the other hand, water supply projects in rural areas are often located on mountainous terrain, streams, so they are often affected by floods and landslides.

IMPROVING POST-INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

To promote the effectiveness of domestic water supply projects, Ha Giang province has reviewed all projects to propose solutions in investment, management and use. Regarding investment, in the districts of Dong Van Stone Plateau, where three-quarters of the area is rocky mountains with steep slopes, the exploitation of underground water, rivers and streams is very difficult. Therefore, the province still prioritizes investment in hanging lakes, with the goal of building nearly 400 lakes to basically meet the water needs of the people; however, so far only 121 lakes have been built. Therefore, in the coming period, in addition to continuing to invest in building hanging lakes, the province is coordinating with the Institute of Water Resources to survey and propose a plan to build large-capacity reservoirs with a capacity of three million cubic meters or more. Through the survey, it is possible to build three large reservoirs in the highland districts. For investment in self-flowing water supply works, focus on systematic and closed investment resources from water collection, clean water treatment, and water supply to each household so that people can use clean water that meets standards, convenient for management as well as meeting sustainable water supply. To promote the effectiveness of works after investment, local Party committees and authorities must enhance their responsibility in management. At the same time, strengthen training for water supply operation management teams, ensure that all works have operation management teams, and collect water usage fees from people. In addition, to attract businesses and cooperatives to participate in investment and management, the province also needs to have mechanisms and policies to encourage and support the annual maintenance and repair of clean water works. Director of the Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation of Ha Giang Province, Tran Xuan Duong, said: “In the coming time, the province will assign a number of rural clean water projects to local water centers for management, operation, maintenance and repair; these units have enough capacity to manage and account for revenues and expenditures so that the projects operate effectively, stably and sustainably. In the immediate future, we will pilot the assignment of seven rural clean water projects in the form of asset increases to the Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation of Ha Giang Province for management, implemented for 2 to 3 years, then evaluate the implementation results to find solutions to replicate the model.”

KHANH TOAN

Source: https://nhandan.vn/no-luc-de-nguoi-dan-vung-cao-khong-thieu-nuoc-sinh-hoat-post888477.html