Đinh Thị Yên in Dưng Village of Hiền Lương Commune had to pay to have a well built but still hardly any water can be drawn from it. — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đạt

HOÀ BÌNH — People of Đà Bắc District of the northern province Hoà Bình have been suffering a severe water shortage for years despite residing right in the Đà River basin.

This is a paradox because the area has a rich water source with an average annual water flow of 1,602 cu.m per second, which should guarantee production and daily life for the whole district.

However, in the first months of this year's dry season, little rain fell and dried-up streams caused many households in the upland district of Đà Bắc to suffer from water shortages for daily life and production.

People in eight villages of Vầy Nưa Commune have been suffering the most.

Previously, the Khé stream in Dướng village ran all year round, and people in the area hardly had to worry about water.

However, since 2022, the stream has dried up. Hundreds of interlaced pipes bringing water to homes were left dry by the stream.

Đặng Thị Mùi, a resident living near the stream, said that for nearly two years, her family has had to build tanks to store rain water or carry water from other locations far from home for daily use.

“I do not know when the difficulty will end,” said Mùi.

Meanwhile, households in Dướng Village have to save every drop of water.

Bàn Văn Thích, a villager, said that people have had to install pipes to bring water home from its source in the mountains 500 meters away.

“However, currently, the water source is running out,” said Thích.

“Therefore, households have to take turns to check and share water,” he said.

The people wanted the local authorities to build tanks to store water to ensure enough water for people's daily life, especially in the dry season, he said.

Chairman of Vầy Nưa Commune Xa Văn Si said that the lack of rain for a long time has created water shortages for daily life and production.

Earlier this year, the commune provided VNĐ104 million (US$6,000) for domestic water works such as repairing water storage tanks upstream and water pipes, and dredging canals in villages with an aim to reduce the difficulties of the local people.

Vầy Nưa Commune of Đà Bắc District is surrounded by the Đà River but people are facing a water shortage. — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đạt

The shortage of daily-life water also occurs in some residential areas in Hiền Lương Commune, which is located in the area of Đà Hydro-power reservoir.

According to the commune’s authority, there have been a number of water supply works carried out but the prolonged drought situation caused many works to fail due to a lack of water.

In addition, some construction built many years ago is now damaged and degraded.

For example, in Dưng Village, a self-flowing clean water project, which was built more than 30 years ago to bring water from Gốc Tăng stream to serve more than 10 households, has been completely damaged, causing many families to suffer severe water shortages.

Đinh Thị Yên, a resident in Dưng Village who used to benefit from the clean water project, said that the water source upstream is quite stable but due to damage to the pipe leading to tanks, households do not have water for daily use.

Due to difficulties in upstream water, last year, households in the village had to contribute money to drill wells at a cost of over VNĐ10 million. But not all wells have water.

The villagers said that the well water is convenient for daily life, but for irrigation, it increases costs due to the need to use electricity to run the pumps.

Along with Vầy Nưa and Hiền Lương communes, many residential areas in Đà Bắc District have been facing severe water shortages.

People expect that the authorities of Đà Bắc District and Hoà Bình Province will continue to pay attention to repairing and building more clean water supply works to ensure water for people's daily life and production, especially as this year's dry season is forecasted to be even more unpredictable and harsh than previous years. — VNS