Some 250,000 people living in the Dong Van Rocky Plateau region innorthern mountainous Ha Giang province have suffered for many years froma lack of water during the dry season.
This plateau stretches across the four districts of Dong Van, Meo Vac, Yen Minh and Quan Ba.
Locatedin the northern part of Vietnam at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,600 metresabove sea level, Ha Giang is a land of harsh terrain that is frequentlyaffected by drought. For years, it has faced shortages of water duringthe dry season.
The dry season in the northern provinces of the country lasts from November to April.
ThoMi Dinh, a Mong man from Meo Vac district's Pa Vi, said he still walkedseveral kilometres from his house every day to fetch water from acommon tank.
He added that he could only carry some 20 litres of water at a time.
Dinhfurther noted that the water he carried back home sufficed only forcooking, so his family usually went months without bathing.
Moreover, Ly Mi Bo of Map Pi Lieng commune said he had to venture into the local forest every day, taking water for daily use.
Further,Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Meo Vac district Sung Mi Therevealed that many households had to buy water from other locations.
To meet the demand for water, trucks carried water from the province's Nho Que River to sell it to the public, he said.
"A cubic metre of water usually costs around 70,000 to 100,000 VND (3 to 4.5 USD)," he noted.
Accordingto the provincial authority, 30 small reservoirs have been built since2007, after their construction received approval from the PrimeMinister.
However, the reservoirs are small and the amount of water they store is not steady.
Thisis because the amount of water the reservoirs stores depends upon thevolume of rainfall during the monsoon season. Therefore, reservoirs onlymeet the demand for water for use by a small portion of residents.
Inlate 2012, however, experts from the Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment discovered groundwater in the rocky plateau.
Yet,due to lack of funds to build infrastructure to exploit the groundwater,it has yet to help the local population, according to Deputy Directorof the provincial Science and Technology Department, Pham Minh Giang.
Giangalso noted that there was a project to pump water from local streamsfor people living in areas with limestone reserves, under a co-operativeprogram between the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and MineralResources and a group of German experts.
The project was expected to being implemented since mid-2015, he noted.
Meanwhile,Deputy Head of the Ministry of Science and Technology's InternationalCo-operation Department Le Thanh Binh said that the project should becarefully implemented to ensure maximum effectiveness.
Ensuringample water supplies for people living in the Dong Van Rocky Plateauregion was listed as one of the targets in the strategy for sustainabledevelopment of limestone areas in Vietnam, he pointed out.-VNA
This plateau stretches across the four districts of Dong Van, Meo Vac, Yen Minh and Quan Ba.
Locatedin the northern part of Vietnam at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,600 metresabove sea level, Ha Giang is a land of harsh terrain that is frequentlyaffected by drought. For years, it has faced shortages of water duringthe dry season.
The dry season in the northern provinces of the country lasts from November to April.
ThoMi Dinh, a Mong man from Meo Vac district's Pa Vi, said he still walkedseveral kilometres from his house every day to fetch water from acommon tank.
He added that he could only carry some 20 litres of water at a time.
Dinhfurther noted that the water he carried back home sufficed only forcooking, so his family usually went months without bathing.
Moreover, Ly Mi Bo of Map Pi Lieng commune said he had to venture into the local forest every day, taking water for daily use.
Further,Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Meo Vac district Sung Mi Therevealed that many households had to buy water from other locations.
To meet the demand for water, trucks carried water from the province's Nho Que River to sell it to the public, he said.
"A cubic metre of water usually costs around 70,000 to 100,000 VND (3 to 4.5 USD)," he noted.
Accordingto the provincial authority, 30 small reservoirs have been built since2007, after their construction received approval from the PrimeMinister.
However, the reservoirs are small and the amount of water they store is not steady.
Thisis because the amount of water the reservoirs stores depends upon thevolume of rainfall during the monsoon season. Therefore, reservoirs onlymeet the demand for water for use by a small portion of residents.
Inlate 2012, however, experts from the Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment discovered groundwater in the rocky plateau.
Yet,due to lack of funds to build infrastructure to exploit the groundwater,it has yet to help the local population, according to Deputy Directorof the provincial Science and Technology Department, Pham Minh Giang.
Giangalso noted that there was a project to pump water from local streamsfor people living in areas with limestone reserves, under a co-operativeprogram between the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and MineralResources and a group of German experts.
The project was expected to being implemented since mid-2015, he noted.
Meanwhile,Deputy Head of the Ministry of Science and Technology's InternationalCo-operation Department Le Thanh Binh said that the project should becarefully implemented to ensure maximum effectiveness.
Ensuringample water supplies for people living in the Dong Van Rocky Plateauregion was listed as one of the targets in the strategy for sustainabledevelopment of limestone areas in Vietnam, he pointed out.-VNA
