VOVOnline interviewed Doan Cong Quang, a former lecturer at Water Conservancy University and high-level technical advisor for the project “strengthening institutional capacity for disaster risk management in Vietnam, including climate change-related disasters” (SCDM).
VOVOnline: What’s the real value of water resources in Vietnam?
Mr Quang: Vietnam is proud of having abundant water resources, but based on its average per capita level, the country ranks 57th in the world. By 2020, it will be among countries with water resources dropping to below the average level.
According to a scenario of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), many regions in the country face water scarcity, such as the Southeast region, which now exploits 75 percent of water resources in the dry season. They forecast that the region will use over 100 percent of water resources by 2020. Thus, water demand will far surpass available levels in the dry season.
The larger the population is; the more water is used. By 2020, the Dong Nai River basin will be seriously short of water, while the Hong, Ma and Con River basins, and others in the South-eastern part of the country, will also face water scarcity.
Overuse of water will make river basin water levels unsustainable. Water disputes are likely to occur.
VOVOnline: Vietnam is running short of water but the waste of water still a common occurrence. Why?
Mr Quang: First, users are not fully aware of saving water. For example, farmers use water to cultivate rice in wasteful manner.
In addition, there are certain snags in implementing legal policies. For example, the Law on Water Resources and the Government’s Decree on water management in river basins that all users have to pay fees, while the Government’s Decree 115 in 2008 lifted water fees. This makes farmers and businesses not responsible for protecting water resources, so they use it wastefully.
Furthermore, lawmakers have not paid due attention to what they call “virtual” water and “water footprints”.
According to the United Nations, “virtual” water refers, in the context of trade, to the water used in the production of goods or services.
For instance, raising a 200kg cow requires 1,300kg of grains, 7,200kg of grass and 24,000 litres of water and the use of 3 million litres of water in three years. In short, 1kg of beef requires 15,340 litres of water.
The term "water footprint" is often used to refer to the amount of water used to produce goods or services by an individual, community, business, or nation. The water footprint of a nation is the total amount of water used in the production of goods or services needed by people in a country.
Many countries in the world take account of this issue. For example, Mexico imports wheat from the US because it takes 15 billion cu.m of water per year to cultivate wheat in the country, and only 7.1 billion cu.m in the US. From a global perspective, 8.5 billion cu.m of water are saved per year.
So, many countries depend on others to ensure the security of water resources.
VOVOnline: What role do “virtual” water and “water footprint” play in water use and economic development?
Mr Quang: They help lawmakers have a more accurate view on economic development and planning.
For example, lawmakers need to consider which areas are suitable for rice cultivation and which kinds of crops should be grown in areas facing water scarcity.
However, Vietnam has not done any research into “virtual” water and “water footprint”.
VOVOnline: What measures do you propose to use water economically and effectively?
Mr Quang: In the world, “virtual” water often moves from Asia to Europe and America, because most Asian countries are involved in agricultural production. Vietnam is following.
I think that authorities should pay more attention to “virtual” water and “water footprint”, in addition to real demand for water use. Furthermore, water resource protection should be based on community development with the introduction of advanced technologies to help local people use water economically and efficiently.
VOVOnline: Thank you very much.
(VOV)