Waterworks in Vietnam’s Da Nang lack river water for production

Dwellers in the central city of Da Nang have been facing a shortage of tap water because sea water has predominated in the Cam Le River, which provides the main source of raw water for the locale.

The salinity of the water in the river has surged to the level 65 times the safe limit, said Nguyen Minh Chinh, director of the Cau Do Waterworks in Cam Le District.

It results from retaining water in the reservoirs of the hydropower plants upstream, which leads to the Cam Le River running out of water and sea water intruding on the river.

An official from Dawaco, the main water supply company in Da Nang, said the salinity of the water in the Cam Le River has stood at a high level in the last ten years though the pumping station of the Cau Do waterworks is just ten kilometers from the river mouth.

Residents of Lien Chieu District and Ngu Hanh Son District have faced a desperate shortage of fresh water.

Before 2012, water in the Cam Le River only became salted during dry months, from the fifth to the sixth month in the lunar calendar.

But from that year till now, the salinity of the water has permanently stayed at a high level, even in the rainy season.

The lack of river water has forced Da Nang authorities to ask the Ministry of Industry and Trade to intervene by ordering the three hydropower plants upstream the Cam Le River to discharge more water.

In the past three months, the authorities have asked for water from the three hydroelectricity plants – including Song Bung 4, A Vuong, and Dak Mi 4 – twice.

To cope with the shortage of raw water, Da Nang is planning to build another pumping station along the Cu De River with a capacity of 120,000 cubic meters a day.

The proposed facility can only start operations around 2020.

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