KHÁNH HÒA (VNS) – Central Khánh Hòa Province People’s Committee will halt cultivation of the summer-autumn rice crop on 2,000ha in the province to spare water for daily use.

This is one of the responses of the province to the record drought that has hit central and Central Highlands provinces of Việt Nam.

According to the committee and relevant agencies, more water released from upper Cái River is just enough for people’s daily use. So, seventeen pumping stations along Cái River, which provide water to riverside crops, would be stopped from operating.

Instead, the water would be used to meet the demand of residents for their daily use in Nha Trang City and neighbouring districts of Diên Khánh and Cam Lâm.

Khánh Hòa Water Supply and Sewerage Joint Stocks Company also planned to reinforce a dyke to prevent saline intrusion on the Cái River and implement measures to store water.

It also planned to strengthen inspection and overseeing of waste water treatment in local plants and factories to ensure the quality of river water.

In case the drought continues to be severe, the province would release 6 cu.m of water from Suối Dầu Reservoir to Cái River to ensure water supply for local residents.

According to the province’s Natural Disasters Prevention and Control Steering Committee, during the winter-spring rice crop of 2015-2016, the province lost VNĐ90 billion (roughly US$4 million) due to the drought. Rice was not cultivated on about 1,400ha because of water shortage.

The province asked the government for aid worth VNĐ66 billion ($2.96 million) to cope with the drought, VNĐ10 billion ($448,500) to buy water for daily use, and 2,000 tonnes of rice. In the third quarter of this year, the province planned to give 15kg of rice every month to each of the 44,500 residents. — VNS