With sea entering its rivers Mekong Delta struggles for freshwater

Amidst a severe freshwater shortage in the Mekong Delta, Thu’s family of six decided to stay with various relatives after enduring two weeks without sufficient water.

The 62-year-old woman consoled her sobbing grandchildren saying: "You will have water for showering and laundry over there. If you continue to stay here, you’ll keep itching all over."

As they bid farewell, Thu told them to give her a call at night if they missed her.

Thu's house is in Hamlet 4, Tan Phuoc Commune in Go Cong Dong, a coastal district in Tien Giang Province.

Go Cong Dong was the first municipality in the Mekong Delta to declare a state of emergency due to the severe freshwater scarcity caused by saltwater from the sea flowing up rivers.

As the dry season approached Thu began to store water, but the taps soon ran dry, making life miserable.

Since then Thu and the other locals have been relying on public taps and water trucks from HCMC, Binh Duong Province and My Tho City in Tien Giang.

Unable to collect water herself due to a spinal injury and with her daughter working far away and only returning home a few times a week, Thu relies on neighbors for collecting water.

"I don’t want to bother my neighbors, but there’s no other way," she said.

People in Hamlet 4, Tan Phuoc Commune, Go Cong Dong District, Tien Giang Province, collect freshwater from a charity water truck on April 11, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Ngan

For a while now the daily allowance of water for Thu and her family has been limited to five to six 20-liter containers.

They hardly ever wash clothes, merely hanging them in the sun after wearing to reduce the odor before wearing them again the next day. For showering, Thu uses half a bucket of water and no soap.

The situation was taking a bigger toll on her three grandchildren, aged 12, 10 and three, given their schooling schedule and hygiene needs. "Without showering properly, the kids couldn’t sleep at night due to itches," Thu said.

Finally Thu and her daughter decided to send the two younger grandchildren to their grandparents’ place 10 kilometers away, which still has tap water.

The 12-year-old has stayed behind to help her collect water and do other chores around the house.

Tron (wearing a hat) collects water from a charity water truck in Go Cong Dong District on April 11, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/ Ngoc Ngan

As the saltwater intrusion season approached in early March, Trieu Thi Tron slept in the morning and stayed up at night to fill and store water from the tap.

The 48-year-old changed her daily alarm from the usual 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., when most other people are asleep and the water flow in the taps is strongest.

Tron and her husband were in charge of this nightly routine so that their two sons, one of whom was married with two children, could have a full night’s rest to go to work the next day.

But as the water flow got weaker day by day, she had to watch more closely to switch containers in time. At around 2 a.m. her husband would get up to relieve her and fill water until sunrise.

"I would only get two hours of sleep before waking up again to feed the goats, prepare breakfast and bathe the kids," Tron says. "We have not had such a severe shortage four years, so we were completely unprepared."

The household used the precious supply carefully. Water used for washing vegetables would be used again to wash dishes or flush the toilet.

Tron bathed her grandchildren in a large basin and reused the water to mop the house. But still the water would run out by the afternoon.

Like many others in the neighborhood, Tron took plastic containers to collect water from public faucets, only to find long queues in front of them every time. When water is available, she often has to wait nearly half an hour for her turn.

A dried-up canal in Go Cong Dong District, Tien Giang Province, in April 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Ngan

Three kilometers away another queue is waiting to collect water from a charity water truck. One of the people queueing up is Hong Diep.

Diep lives with her son and old mother, while her husband is a fisherman who only visits home once a month.

Unable to lift heavy objects due to osteoarthritis, the 48-year-old woman fills water and then tells her son to bring the containers home. She has written her name on her containers to ensure they don’t get mixed up.

For around a month Diep has not been able to take care of her business due to the water scarcity. Her son has little time to study at night since he helps her, causing her much concern.

Every afternoon when the water runs low, Diep finds herself anxiously waiting for news of water trucks arriving in the commune.

She has noted down the phone numbers various charity organizations that supply water, and acts as a liaison between them and people in her neighborhood.

Nguyen Van Mot, chief of Kinh Duoi Hamlet in Binh An Commune, said the saltwater intrusion and lack of water have been detrimental to people's lives, with many fruit farms lacking water for irrigation. Most locals use bottled water for drinking, and get water from public faucets for other daily needs.

But despite some recent installation, there are still not enough faucets to meet the needs of hundreds of households in the area.

The public faucets are typically the busiest between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m, when many people line up to collect water for the day. Nevertheless, queues can be seen at night too after some people return home from work.

According to The National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting, saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta this year is more severe than normal.

The salinity level is likely to peak in April and May, more specifically from April 22-28 and May 7-11. This year the saltwater intrusion is expected to affect 30,000 households and 20,000 hectares of rice.

Ever since Thu sent her grandchildren away, neighbors have been leaving their water containers at her house. Situated at a convenient location where charity water trucks can stop, the house has become the hamlet’s gathering spot for filling water.

On the evening of April 12 Thu was calling her grandchildren on the phone while her daughter was carrying a bucket of water into the house.

"I hope this ends soon, so that my grandchildren can come back home," she says wistfully.