Ho Chi Minh City braces for coming dry season

Competent authorities in the city are required to apply water conservation methods as well as adopt suitable agricultural models to prepare for the upcoming dry season, which is influenced by the longest El Nino spell in the past 60 years, according to the plan.

The water supply shortage due to lower water volume in reservoirs compared to the average figure of previous years will affect many areas, especially Ho Chi Minh City.

The water volume in the Dau Tieng reservoir, which provides water for agricultural irrigation systems, household use and industrial production in the southern province of Tay Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City, is rather low this year.

The reservoir is expected to supply water to crops covering about 30,000 hectares in Tay Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City on December 10, according to Nguyen Tien Lanh, from the Dau Tieng-Phuoc Hoa hydraulic mining company.

Therefore, authorities have to think of a solution for conserving water given the shortage under the forecast weather spells, Lanh added.

After three days of providing water for crops in Tay Ninh, the supply will be directed to farms in the city in the following four days in accordance with the solution, which is hoped to help preserve 20 to 30 percent of reservoir capacity.

Despite the additional resources from the Phuoc Hoa reservoir in neighboring Binh Duong Province, the Dau Tieng artificial lake is scheduled to supply extra farming water to the southern province of Long An next year, requiring farmers to conserve their water resources in order to ensure water for daily consumption, Lanh said.

Factories under the management of the Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) have already come up with necessary solutions to actively cope with the dry spells, according to Bui Thanh Giang, deputy general director of Sawaco.

It is advisable that farmers should not conduct aquaculture activities during the drought, as they will consume ten times more water than farming crops, Giang said.

People should pay attention to the daily weather forecasts to adjust their water usage commensurately with specific climatic conditions, said Nguyen Xuan Hoang, from the Flood Control Division under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The El Nino spell has had a significant influence on the Vietnamese weather, resulting in less rainfall and longer dry seasons, Le Thi Xuan Lan, a hydrometeorologist, said.

The dry season in Vietnam is forecast to peak in the period between January and April, 2016, Lan added.