20,000 people have no water even for drinking, cooking and sanitation; thousands of cattle don’t have water to drink, 15,600 hectares of field crops have dried up.

Quang Ngai chairman Truong Ngoc Nhi said on June 6 that his people have never faced such severe drought. The Quang Ngai authorities have asked the Government to grant it 20 billion dong for drought relief. While waiting for the emergency funding, the province has used 12.2 billion dong from its reserve fund to fight the drought.

Water levels in most reservoirs and lakes in the province are very low. Salty water is encroaching on coastal fields.

“We are pumping what water we have into the canals,” said Nguyen Lap, deputy director of the local irrigation company, “and hoping for assistance from the Government to dredge canals and bring water to the fields. Meanwhile we have told farmers to use whatever water they still have in wells or ponds for irrigation.”

Most of the 20,000 people on Ly Son island, 25 kilometers off the Quang Ngai coast, now depend on water from only one well, So La, which was dug by Cham people several centuries ago. Other wells have dried up. People queue at the well 24/24 to collect a bucket of water, which is only used for cooking. They wash and bath with sea water.

On another island, Dao Be, water sources dried up over a month ago. The island’s 110 families ration each drop of water, which they buy for 150,000-180,000 dong per cubic meter from nearby Dao Lon. Those who cannot afford to pay row across to the larger island to get water.

“We have asked the district government to allocate 40 million dong (over $2000) to transport 300 cubic meters of fresh water from Lon Island to Be Island to serve local people,” said a Be island leader. “Strictly rationed, that would be ten days’ supply,” he continued. “The people here are praying the rainy season will come early, but we (local officials) are asking for assistance to deal with this great drought.”

PV