LookAtVietnam – Urgent measures are needed to manage the country’s dwindling water resources. Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said at a meeting in the capital yesterday.

Workers fixing system of refining water at Ha Noi Clean Water Company. The company has upgraded to raise capacity to 480,000cu.m per day, an increase of 60,000cu.m compared with that of 2006, to meet demand in the coming summer.

Many rivers had been polluted to a critical level, he said. So far there had not been enough synchronous measures in the exploration and utilisation of water resources.

The two bodies were told to map out plans to improve meteorological forecast and build modern stations to monitor the quality and quantity of water coming in and out of the country.

The deputy PM also urged them to improve the gauging of typography meteorology and the supervision of impact on water resources in border rivers.

The MNRE should write up a draft national strategy on water resources as well as a long-term master plan on exploring and utilising water resources, he said.

Hai also called on officials to improve statistics on the use of water from river basins in border areas and co-operate with neighbouring countries on the issue.

Several meeting delegates said the utilisation of water resources had been held back due to the lack of information and limited infrastructure and technology.

Around 200 rivers in Viet Nam are international, making up 8 per cent of the country’s total.

Some 500 billion cu.m of water flows into Viet Nam annually, 400 billion cu.m from Cuu Long (Mekong) River. About 43 billion cu.m flow out of the country’s territory.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News