Nghe An: Over 17,000 households face severe water shortage.

Due to her frail health, every few days, Mrs. Dang Thi Thanh from Dong Nam hamlet, Quang Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, has to ask her children to pull a cart to fetch water from over 1 km away from her house to use for cooking and drinking in her cramped kitchen, where pots, pans, buckets, and basins are all used to hold water.

Pots, pans, and buckets are used to store drinking water at the home of Ms. Dang Thi Thanh. Photo: Phu Huong

“A few years ago, we also had to go around asking for water like this, but it rained within a month. This year, however, the well has been dry for two and a half months. We only dare to use the water we get for cooking, we have to go to our neighbor's house with a drilled well to bathe, and we have to wash our clothes at the dam 2 km away from our house,” Mrs. Thanh shared.

The villagers' wells have been dry for several months now. Photo: Phu Huong

According to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dong, an agricultural official in Quang Thanh commune, over 80% of the 1,800 households in the commune are currently facing a severe shortage of clean water. There are nearly 60 deep wells (50-70 meters deep) in the commune, and most of the commune's water supply currently depends on them. "We are currently focusing on raising awareness and encouraging people to drill wells, use water sparingly, and share water resources with each other," Mr. Dong said.

Lake Ve Vung has a storage capacity of 20 million cubic meters.3The water level in Yen Thanh district has been completely dry for over a month now. Photo: Phu Huong

In Hamlet 3, Dien Loc Commune, Dien Chau District, for over a month now, most households using dug wells have been without water. Ms. Cao Thi Sinh from Xuan Tinh Hamlet said: "We usually experience water shortages during leap years, but never before have our wells been dry for over a month without any sign of rain like this year. We have to buy water from Xuan Duong Lake at a price of 50,000 - 60,000 VND per cubic meter."³So they only used it for drinking, while for bathing and washing clothes they had to ask each other for water from the drilled well.

Every day, the people of Quang Thanh commune have another task: going to fetch water. Photo: Phu Huong

In Xuan Tinh hamlet, out of 200 households, 130 are currently experiencing a shortage of clean water.

According to data compiled by the Provincial Irrigation Department, on July 14th, only 4,000 households in the province were experiencing water shortages, but by July 26th, that number had increased to over 17,000 households, concentrated mainly in the districts of Ky Son, Con Cuong, Que Phong, Thanh Chuong, Tan Ky, Yen Thanh, and Dien Chau…

The water that Mrs. Cao Thi Sinh buys from Xuan Duong Lake is used sparingly only for drinking and cooking. Photo: Phu Huong

"If the intense heatwave continues, the number of households facing water shortages will increase exponentially, because currently, water sources in ponds and reservoirs are rapidly depleting," worried Mr. Nguyen Truong Thanh, Head of the Irrigation Department.