Can Tho City effectively manages water resources: Serving the goal

PV: Could you tell us how climate change and the negative side of socio -economic development... have impacted water resources in the city?

Mr. Pham Nam Huan:

Surface water and groundwater resources in Can Tho City have been and are being affected by climate change and socio-economic development activities. With a weak geological structure and low elevation, Can Tho City is vulnerable to flooding, land subsidence and water pollution when floods from upstream or rising sea levels. Notably, in the past, Can Tho City was almost unaffected by saltwater intrusion because it is more than 70km from the East Sea.

However, in recent years, saltwater from the East Sea has intruded into the area bordering Hau Giang province, affecting the water quality of some rivers and canals. Not only that, the process of urbanization, agricultural and industrial development is also causing the quality of water sources at some times and areas in the city to decline, affecting the water source for daily life and production of local people.

Faced with the above challenges, to protect water resources and serve the local sustainable development goals, Can Tho City always focuses on and promotes the management and protection of water resources, especially underground water resources, to avoid degradation and depletion of water resources, which are considered valuable resources for socio-economic development and people's daily lives.

PV: Can you share some specific solutions that the city is implementing to improve the efficiency of water resource management and exploitation?

Mr. Pham Nam Huan:

The licensing of water resource exploitation and use in the city is always carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Water Resources and guiding documents. Can Tho City also applies measures to limit the exploitation of underground water by "where the tap water supply system ensures the supply of quantity and quality, no new licenses for the exploitation and use of underground water will be issued". At the same time, annual monitoring of groundwater dynamics is carried out to monitor water levels. Thereby, contributing to significantly reducing the situation of excessive lowering of groundwater levels, salinity intrusion, pollution, degradation, and depletion of underground water resources.

Can Tho City has implemented many solutions to protect water resources, serving the city's sustainable socio-economic development goals.

Can Tho City has also strengthened the dissemination of water resources law along with the law on environmental protection, natural resource management and climate change response, contributing to creating a profound change in the awareness and actions of cadres, civil servants, public employees, businesses and people; at the same time, deploying to departments, branches and localities the contents of the master plan for the Mekong River basin for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050.

In particular, Can Tho City always focuses on organizing the development of plans for exploiting, using, protecting water resources and overcoming the consequences of damage caused by water; proposing and supplementing the list of works for regulating, exploiting, using water, developing water resources; managing drainage space, ensuring the flow of water on rivers and canals, in order to ensure safety in preventing and combating flooding and protecting water resources, making an important contribution to creating landscapes, protecting the environment, and ensuring safety in water supply and drainage.

Can Tho City has also strictly managed wastewater discharge activities in industrial parks, clusters, and production facilities by having measures and roadmaps for collecting and treating wastewater to meet standards and regulations according to regulations, ensuring compliance with water source functions; tightening management of water exploitation, use, and wastewater discharge activities into water sources in river basins according to authority, in accordance with water source functions, ensuring water source quality according to regulations.

Can Tho City also approved a list of ponds, lakes, and canals that cannot be filled in with the aim of ensuring safety in flood prevention and control, protecting water resources, creating landscapes, protecting the environment, and ensuring safety in water supply. Currently, Can Tho City continues to request localities to review, compile statistics, propose adjustments and supplements to the list of ponds, lakes, and canals that cannot be filled in accordance with socio-economic development and the practical situation of the locality.

Reporter: To ensure water resources for socio-economic development, what tasks and solutions will Can Tho City implement, sir?

Mr. Pham Nam Huan:

Can Tho City is currently focusing on implementing the Project "Building a list of water sources that must establish protection corridors in Can Tho City". Up to now, the Project has been approved by the City People's Committee for implementation with the main contents being analysis and assessment of water source functions, determining the scope of water source protection corridors according to protection functions and editing maps.

Along with that, develop a plan for exploiting, using, protecting water resources as well as preventing and overcoming the consequences of damage caused by water according to specific contents such as: functional zoning of water resources; determining the ratio and priority order of allocation in normal and drought and water shortage cases; at the same time, determining reserve water resources for domestic water supply; determining a system for monitoring water resources and exploiting and using water; determining works for regulating, exploiting, using and developing water resources.

In addition, Can Tho City also identifies solutions to protect water resources, restore polluted or degraded water resources, and depleted water resources to ensure the function of water resources; build a water quality monitoring system, monitor wastewater discharge into water sources; evaluate the overall effectiveness and impact of measures to prevent, combat, and overcome the consequences of water-related harm; improve the quality and effectiveness of activities to prevent, combat, overcome, warn, forecast, and minimize water-related harm in the city.

Can Tho City continues to promote the dissemination of legal documents on water resources to departments, branches, localities, businesses and people; strengthen propaganda and mobilize people to actively store water in ponds and canals; use water resources economically, safely and effectively; at the same time, do not encroach or discharge waste generated from daily life and production into ponds, lakes, rivers and canals, causing blockage of water flow and pollution of water sources.

Can Tho City will also strengthen inspection and supervision at the commune, ward and town levels of water resource exploitation and use activities, especially underground water resources, to promptly detect and handle organizations and individuals who exploit illegally, causing degradation, depletion and pollution of water resources; continue to review and urge well owners to treat and fill unused wells to protect the quality of underground water resources in the city.

PV: Thank you very much!

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