Workshop on Drinking water supply from groundwater South of Hau River
On March 17th, 2021, in Soc Trang City, the WaterWorx Project (VEI, the Netherlands) and IGPVN Project (BGR, Germany) collaborated with Soc Trang Water Supply Company to organize a workshop on Drinking water supply from groundwater South of Hau River. Representatives of An Giang, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Can Tho, Hau Giang water supply companies attended the workshop.
At the workshop, the IGPVN project introduced about their plan of groundwater sampling at the production wells of the water supply companies, including (i) selecting wells for sampling, (ii) sampling and measuring field parameters, (iii) sending samples to Germany for analysis of all basic and in-depth parameters. This plan aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the features of the aquifer system in the region, to serve groundwater management in general and the purpose of groundwater exploitation for water supply. The implementation of this plan requires the response and close coordination of the water supply companies.
In addition, at this Workshop, the IGPVN Project shared some key issues about groundwater in the Mekong Delta based on the research results of the Project and other results published recently. These issues include: (i) groundwater level declining, (ii) ground subsidence, (iii) groundwater origin, (iv) groundwater quality, (v) groundwater protection and (vi) groundwater management. In general, these issues have attracted the attention of the workshop participants. At the same time, a number of issues were raised by the audience such as: limiting groundwater exploitation, only using groundwater for domestic purposes, controlling groundwater exploitation at household scale, identifying alternative water sources.
Overall, the Workshop was a great success, initially establishing a relationship between the IGPVN Project and the Water Supply Companies in the South of Hau River region, which is the premise for further cooperation. Basically, the Water Supply Companies agreed to participate in the groundwater sampling campaign of the IGPVN project which was scheduled to be implemented in April this year.