HCM City(VNA) – As many as 18 million residents in the Mekong Delta are sufferingserious consequences as the Mekong River is drying up due to over exploitationof hydropower plants in upstream countries, delegates heard at a recent conferencein the Delta province of An Giang.

According to the reportfrom the Vietnam Mekong River Commission (VMRC), while China has basicallycompleted the first development stage of its hydropower-shaped ladder on theMekong river, Laos has strengthened hydropower exploitation by constructing twoplants, Xayaburi and Don Sahong, on the main stream of the river and ispreparing for the construction of Pakbeng on a branch of the river.

“Around 95 percent of totalwater flow in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta depends on water from upstream andthe Delta has suffered great consequences,” Nguyen Thi Thu Linh, deputy head ofthe commission office, said at the Vietnam Mekong River Commission Conference2017.

“The Mekong Delta is nowfacing strict water shortage in dry season, a significant increase of salineintrusion, serious water flow change and severe erosion, which strongly impactagricultural and aqua-cultural cultivation as well as daily lives,” she added.

Linh said a study showedthat with these two Laotian hydropower dams, total water volume would reduce 13percent, saline intrusion would come 3 – 4 km further into the Mekong Delta,alluvium would drop 5 percent and aquatic productivity would fall 9 percent.

Furthermore, Thailand andCambodia are planning to divert a huge amount of the river’s water flow intoother regions, and if this happens, 17 percent of the water resource and 90 percentof fish would never come to Vietnam, she concluded.

[Mekong basin dams pose danger: experts]

“Related authorities shouldset up different response scenarios with climate change based on the currentsituation rather than worry about information of upstream nations keeping allthe water of the Mekong River,” said Hoang Van Thang, Deputy Minister of theAgriculture and Rural Development.

“Related authorities shouldcollect more inter-regional information as a database for setting up climatechange response scenarios, as well as call for more international support inwater resource protection,” he added.

“We need officialinformation of water volume from upstream countries to build a propercultivation plan, but there is no way to get such information,” said Lam QuangThi, Vice Chairman of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

He suggested the ministryof Natural Resource and Environment set up automatic measurement stations alongthe border with Cambodia to collect accurate and timely information aboutwater.

“A master plan for MekongDelta development should be established immediately. The master plan must updateerosion in rivers and beaches, fix the road system and infrastructuredevelopment in order to restructure agricultural and aqua-culturalcultivation,” he added.

“Information sharing aboutthe Mekong River’s water resource among ministries and localities is veryweak,” Minister of Natural Resource and Environment Tran Hong Ha admitted.

He requested the VMRC inco-operation with relevant authorities to closely supervise an adjustment ofthe master plan on irrigation, transport infrastructure and agriculturalcultivation.

“The commission shouldconsider reserving water in Mekong river branches,” Ha said.-VNA