Thousands of households in HCM City outlying districts, including District 7, Binh Thanh, Thu Duc, Go Vap and Nha Be, are facing a severe shortage of clean water . . .

Residents of Huynh Tan Phat Street in HCM City’s District 7 are forced to buy drinking water from traders at high prices due to a severe drought in the south.

They have paid VND500-5,000 for 20 litres, although the city’s water prices for household use is only VND4,000-10,000 per cu.m.

Nguyen Doan Xa, deputy director of the Nha Be Water Supply Joint Stock Company, which supplies tap water for 4, 7 and Nha Be districts, said more water was being used as hotter weather had begun.

The Tan Hung Ward is also located at the end of the water supply pipe network, so there is little tap water running to the ward area.

Meanwhile, several newly built water plants have failed to supply tap water to the city’s outlying districts because their water pipe networks have not been completed on schedule.

The Thu Duc BOO Water Plant, built in October 2005, was targeted to supply 300,000 cu.m of water a day for districts 2, 7, 9, Thu Duc and Nha Be in August 2007.

However, the plant only supplies tap water for District 2, 9 and Thu Duc.

The construction of a water pipeline to the other districts has not been completed even though plant construction was to be completed in August 2007.

When the plant’s water pipelines are completed, tap water shortage in districts 7 and Nha Be, which have the most severe problem in the city, will be sufficient, according to the Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco).

Similarly, the Kenh Dong Water Plant in Cu Chi District was planned to begin supply tap water with a capacity of 200,000 cu.m a day at the end of last year, but its eight kilometres of pipeline to transfer water from the plant to the water pipe network of Sawaco has not been built.

Kenh Dong would supply water for District 12, Go Vap and Hoc Mon districts.

To solve water shortage during the dry season, Sawaco has increased water pressure at the end of water pipeline networks in certain areas.

It has also strengthened water tanks to supply tap water for water shortage areas.

The city People’s Committee has also allowed Sawaco to take water from fire hydrants and use water tanks to transport it to water shortage areas for residential use.

Unseasonable weather

Thousands of households in the southern province of Dong Nai are also without potable water due to the prolonged dry spell, according to the local authorities.

They said that even 350 households in the province’s capital Bien Hoa were also suffering water shortages.

Those worse affected included 2,700 households in the districts of Nhon Trach and Dinh Quan.

Officials said unseasonably dry weather had lowered ground water levels.

Due to the water shortage, local people are being forced to pay between VND20,000-VND70,000 (US$1-3.5) per cubic metre, as opposed to VND3,000 from local retailers.

Duong Anh, deputy chairman of the Dinh Quan District People’s Committee, said the dry season, which in the south typically lasts from October to May, was the severest over the past 10 years.

Officials from the provincial Agriculture and Rural Development Department said the province planned to spend VND14 billion ($740,000) connecting 11 remote communes to the water supply this year – VND5 billion more than its budge last year.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

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