Preventing water shortages and saltwater intrusion, ensuring domestic water sources

Workers of Minh Loc Water Plant (Hau Loc) operate production.

Every year during the hot season, coastal communes in Hau Loc district are affected by saltwater intrusion, making it difficult to provide clean water for daily life to people. Therefore, from the beginning of summer, clean water factories in the area coordinate with communes in the eastern part of De canal to review and count residential areas where clean water supply is interrupted to have a solution. According to Mr. Nguyen Duy Tuyen, an officer of Ngu Loc Water Plant (Hau Loc), in order to meet the clean water needs of people, the plant has put into operation a reservoir and reserves 5 hectares of raw water to ensure the output of water supply for daily life when the salinity of De canal exceeds the standard. During the peak months of the hot season, the plant maintains daily water sampling and storage, thereby proactively taking raw water and reserving to ensure the quality of water supply for people.

Currently, in the province, there are 54 centralized clean water supply works with a capacity of about 419,810m3/day and night and 506 centralized water supply works (self-flowing) with a capacity of about 36,279m3/day and night. Through annual monitoring by the Irrigation Department, in case of prolonged heat, the water level of rivers drops, the flow is deficient in the province, which may affect the water shortage and salinity intrusion in the domestic water supply. In particular, the areas affected by water shortage and salinity intrusion are mainly in the South of Chu River, North of Ma River, coastal areas and Thanh Hoa City. These areas have high demand for clean water due to the dense population and concentration of many socio -economic development activities of the province. These are areas where clean water supply works are affected because they mainly take raw water from the downstream of Ma River, Len River, Hoat River, De Canal... For example, Ham Rong Water Plant; Domestic water supply system for Hau Loc town and some neighboring communes; Ngu Loc commune domestic water plant; clean water supply project for 7 communes of Hau Loc district; Bac Nga Son clean water plant; Ha Trung district clean water plant... Every year, when the hot weather lasts for a long time, the water level of the rivers drops, the salinity of 1‰ in the estuary and coastal areas remains high and encroaches 18 - 24km inland. Pumping stations cannot get water and if they can get water, the water collection time is short, about 4 - 6 hours, causing difficulties in supplying water for daily life and production.

Regarding water shortages, every year during the dry months (from November to April of the following year), there is often a shortage of domestic water due to low river water levels, polluted groundwater in Ngoc Lac and Cam Thuy districts or frequent flooding leading to water pollution in some communes of Cam Thuy and Thach Thanh districts. In the districts of Thuong Xuan, Lang Chanh, Ba Thuoc, Quan Hoa, Quan Son, Muong Lat, the population is scattered, the self-flowing water supply works are invested from the State budget, after a period of operation, most of these works are damaged, degraded, and stopped working. People mainly depend on water sources from rivers, streams, and upstream water sources...

According to Deputy Head of Thanh Hoa Irrigation Sub-Department, Nguyen Thi Anh Nga, in response to the above situation, the sub-department has advised the Department of Agriculture and Environment to develop and submit to the Provincial People's Committee a plan to prevent and combat drought, water shortage, and saltwater intrusion in the province in 2025. At the same time, coordinate with localities to propagate and guide people to protect water sources, water supply works, and use water economically and reasonably, especially during the peak of the dry season (around February to April 2025). Specialized departments closely monitor the hydrometeorological situation, check, measure, grasp the water source situation, evaluate and balance the water supply capacity of each key project so that water plants can have appropriate production plans to supply for daily life. Along with that, the department coordinates with localities in the province to review and identify areas at risk of domestic water shortage to proactively deploy solutions to ensure domestic water supply for people, not to let people lack domestic water, and if necessary, mobilize forces and means of water transportation to supply to people.

Article and photos: Le Hoi

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/phong-chong-thieu-nuoc-va-xam-nhap-man-bao-dam-nguon-nuoc-sinh-hoat-246238.htm