Investing in water for daily lives and production

​Dong Nai is located in a key economic region, among the top in the country in attracting domestic and foreign investment, especially in the industrial sector. According to the Department of Construction, the demand for clean water in daily lives and industrial production in Dong Nai is over 139,000 m3 per day.

Song May water reservoir, Trang Bom district

It is forecasted that when Long Thanh International Airport comes into operation, new industrial parks are established and production is expanded, the demand for clean water will increase by more than 180,000 m3 per day. In the future, the population of the province will continue to increase rapidly, the demand for clean water for daily lives and production will increase.

* Need a large water source for agriculture

Although it is a province with developed industry, the agricultural production area of Dong Nai is still quite large. This field is very important to the province because there is nearly 60% of the population still lives on agricultural production. Therefore, agriculture is still considered as a solid pillar for the economic development of the province. The province currently has more than 240,000 hectares of agricultural land, of which about 158,000 hectares have not been able to proactively source of water for irrigation (excluding the area of rubber and cashew trees). The remaining area is actively irrigated by two forms: economical irrigation and irrigation from irrigation works.

If many agricultural production areas of Dong Nai proactively irrigate, people can change the structure of crops, increase productivity and profits by 2-3 times compared to the present. In areas that have not been able to actively irrigate water, most people have to drill wells, but in recent years the groundwater level has dropped seriously, so many areas still lack production water in the dry season.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Xuan Bac commune (Xuan Loc district) shared: "In the dry season, groundwater at Xuan Bac area sometimes decreases by more than 1 meter. Some households drill wells more than 50 meters deep into the ground and do not have enough water for irrigation. Therefore, in the rainy season, people often build dams to keep water for production in the dry season. If there is enough water for irrigation, people can increase the productivity of their crops or switch to crops with high economic efficiency"

Similarly, some other areas in Xuan Loc, Cam My, Dinh Quan districts... have to use groundwater and in the dry season, they often fall into a water shortage for agricultural production. People hope that the district and province will soon invest in lakes, dams and irrigation systems to bring water from rivers.

Deputy Chairman of Dinh Quan District People's Committee Ngo Tan Tai said: "Dinh Quan district has planned and built about 4 reservoirs in the coming period to meet the production needs of people in the region in the dry season. In which, there are 3 reservoirs that are transitional from the previous period and a new reservoir added in the land use planning period 2021-2030. When completed, the above reservoirs will meet the water source for livestock production and cultivation for Gia Canh, Phu Ngoc, Thanh Son communes and some surrounding areas.

Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Le Thi Hiep, Head of the Division of Agriculture and Rural Development of Xuan Loc district said that the investment in irrigation works is one of the important conditions contributing to the successful implementation of the Project on Construction of Xuan Loc district to achieve a model new rural area in the direction of "Sustainable development of agricultural commodity production" in the period of 2018-2025. The district hopes to be interested in investing in irrigation works, especially the project of La Nga electric pumping station with an implementation budget of more than 1.1 trillion VND to develop the local economy and society.

*High demand for domestic and industrial water

Currently, Dong Nai's population is more than 3.2 million people and 31 industrial zones are operating, so the province's demand for clean water is huge. In the coming years, 8 new industrial parks will be established and a series of industrial parks will expand their area, so the demand for clean water may increase from two to three times compared to the present.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Cam My district Huynh Tan Thin said: "In the next period, Cam My will build 3 industrial parks and 2 industrial clusters, so the demand for water for industry will be very large. In the land use plan for the period 2021-2030, the district spends nearly 200 hectares of land to implement 3 water reservoirs to supply domestic and industrial production. At the same time, when industrial parks and industrial clusters come into operation, they will attract workers from other places to live, so the demand for clean water for daily lives will increase highly."

From now to 2030, Dong Nai plans nearly 300 residential projects and urban areas in districts, Bien Hoa and Long Khanh cities for nearly 7 million people to live. Accordingly, the demand for clean water will increase greatly, so all localities have planned technical infrastructure works, including clean water to serve residential areas and urban areas. In which, there are many localities with rare surface and underground water sources, building water reservoirs is one of the best solutions. Because without water, there will be no residential or industrial development.

In addition, in the construction of new rural areas, Dong Nai is very interested in investing in domestic water supply works to serve the needs of rural people, especially in remote, mountainous and arid areas which are rare and difficult in terms of water resources. In particular, from 2023, Dong Nai will apply a set of criteria for new rural construction in the period 2021-2025 with many higher criteria and requirements than the previous period. In particular, the target of rural clean water, the percentage of households in newly improved rural communes using clean water according to the standards must reach over 85%, of which from the centralized water supply system (factory water) is over 65%. Investment in rural clean water projects will be focused on promoting because currently the percentage of rural households using water from concentrated water supply works is just over 34.8%. Many people in rural areas still do not have clean water to use, but use groundwater or treat themselves.​