| Region: | Mekong Delta |
| Period: | 2023 |
| Project Partners: | Deltares, WWF-Vietnam, HAWASUCO |
| Funding: | Partners for Water programme, RVO (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) |
Domestic Freshwater Supply for the Mekong Delta
In the context of a changing climate and anthropogenic stresses on the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD), freshwater supply is a major challenge for the rural and urban communities.
Sea level rise, upstream discharge anomalies, sediment starvation and hydrological regime shift due to upstream impoundments, riverbed/bank and coastal erosion, salt intrusion and subsidence are various struggles of the VMD in the context of global and regional change. Over the past two decades, salt intrusion into the surface water system of the VMD has proven to be increasing significantly and is expected to increase in the next three decades.
In order to increase resilience against future climate change, land subsidence and riverbed level erosion scenarios, the consortium of Deltares, VEI, Southern Institute of Water Resources Planning (SIWRP) and Division for Water Resources Planning and Investigation for the South of Viet Nam (DWRPIS), in association with local water companies (HAWASUCO and SOC TRANGWACO) has proposed a smart integrated surface-groundwater supply management methodology that incorporates storage of fresh surface water into the groundwater system through an deep-well Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) system.
Considering salinity dynamics of the VMD, freshwater shortage during the dry season due to salt water intrusion is a very big water shortage problem over a short period (of many days up to quite some weeks). The goal of ASR is to bridge that gap between water demand and supply, while reducing the stress on the existing (fresh) groundwater reserves and mitigate extraction-induced land subsidence at all places where the demand for fresh water exceeds the sustainable supply from groundwater.
This pilot project attempts to reduce one of the drivers of vulnerability, subsidence, while assuring a sustainable freshwater supply for domestic, industrial and possibly aquacultural and agricultural consumption.
For more information, please contact:
Romano Radjkoemar, former Project Manager Vietnam
romano.radjkoemar@vei.nl
An imaginary cross-section of the Mekong Delta through an estuarine channel, demonstrating various trends the delta is currently facing with estimates of their rates based on most recent scientific findings.
