People in Quynh Luu coastal area: Suffering from lack of fresh water

(Baonghean) - For a long time, salt farmers in An Hoa, Quynh Thuan... communes in Quynh Luu district have had to live with a serious shortage of fresh water for daily use. They have had to buy water for daily use by tractor at "bottled" prices to use sparingly.

We went to An Hoa commune - the salt "warehouse" of Quynh Luu district on sunny days, on the village roads were bustling with farm trucks coming in and out to sell fresh water. Mr. Le Van Quyet - Vice Chairman of An Hoa Commune People's Committee said: An Hoa has over 2,400 households (10,045 people) who have been seriously lacking fresh water for daily use for a long time.

Ships in Son Hai buy fresh water to go out to sea.

In 2005, the DaNiDa Project funded over 3 billion VND to invest in a pipeline connecting Quynh Luu Water Plant to the commune, but because the main pipeline was too far (over 7 km long), the secondary road running into the hamlet was over 34 km long, plus the limited capacity of the Water Plant, the pressure was not enough to serve, tap water could not reach the place, especially for salt-making hamlets such as Tan An, Tan Thinh far from the commune center... Therefore, 100% of salt farmers here had to buy water for daily use by tractor.

A resident complained: "My family invested in a water project but left it unused because there was no water. All year round I had to buy water, they brought a tractor to the village to sell for 60,000 VND/m3, each time buying 3m3 of water, the most economical was only 10 days. Even though I knew it was 10 times more expensive than the price of the Quynh Luu Water Plant, I had to accept to buy it, if I didn't buy it, what would I use? Many families save money by using salty well water before bathing, then scooping fresh water to "rinse" it roughly. Even washing clothes is the same, they have to wash them in salty water and then rinse them with fresh water, so the clothes of the salt area people, even though they have just bought them, after washing them in salty water for a few days, they are still faded. In general, fresh water is rare, so the people of An Hoa have to be as frugal as measuring rice to cook. We went down to the Nam Tien salt village, Phan Van Thinh, a 9th grader, was bathing shirtless on the cement floor. Thinh said innocently: "We bathe in water carried up from the pond, but only my younger brother can bathe in fresh water."

Ms. Hoang Thi Thu - Head of Bac Loi hamlet worried: "The hamlet has over 100 households, 100% of whom work in the salt industry, most of whom lack water for daily use. Salt workers are miserable without fresh water, working all day in the salt fields, their clothes and bodies are salty, and when they come home they have to take a quick bath and feel itchy beyond words. For a long time, the hamlet has had a large well, but it only contains stagnant water that cannot be used, and many households are still struggling and do not have the conditions to build rainwater tanks. The income of salt workers is meager, while having to buy fresh water at expensive prices makes us salt workers even more miserable."

In Son Hai commune - where there are over 200 large and small boats, including over 180 offshore fishing boats, fishermen are worried about preparing fresh water for each trip. Mr. Hoang Hung in Son Hai is preparing supplies for the trip and added: "Each trip requires over 30 barrels of fresh water for fishermen to cook and bathe, costing over 600,000 VND. Here, boats have to buy fresh water before going to sea, the cost is not small". Son Hai also has 3 ice production facilities with a capacity of 60 tons of ice/day, which are also very "thirsty" for fresh water, as these facilities have to operate continuously to provide ice for seafood exploitation and processing activities.

Mr. Hoang Van Chuong - Director of Quynh Luu Water Plant said: Quynh Luu Water Plant was built and put into use in 1999 with a capacity of 3,000 m3/day/night. Over time, the plant has degraded (only reaching a capacity of 2,500 m3/day/night) providing domestic water for many communes such as: Cau Giat Town, Quynh Hong, Quynh Ba, Quynh Ngoc, Son Hai, An Hoa, Quynh Hung, Quynh Hau, Quynh Thuan... Many pipelines of the communes have been severely damaged, with low pressure and low capacity, making it very difficult to operate water.

Currently, Quynh Luu Water Plant mainly supplies water to communes according to the water supply needs of service cooperatives. From there, water supply schedules are made according to plan, but it seems that it can only be supplied to the commune centers. Many hamlets, although still have pipelines, cannot reach fresh water due to low pressure. To meet the domestic water needs of the above localities, the Water Plant needs to be invested in upgrading to 10,000 m3/day/night to meet the demand.

Van Truong