A family in Long An Province gets clean tap water. – Photo baolongan.vn

LONG AN – The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Long An will carry out 31 water supply projects in 2021- 25 to benefit nearly 28,900 rural households.

To cost VNĐ349 billion (US$16.97 million), they will be funded by both the province’s coffers and public contributions.   

Groundwater will be extracted from 280 – 300 metres.   

The projects will be located in Kiến Tường Town and the districts of Tân Hưng, Vĩnh Hưng, Mộc Hóa, Tân Thạnh, Thạnh Hóa, Thủ Thừa, Bến Lức, Đức Hòa, Đức Huệ, Tân Trụ, and Cần Đước.

They will help increase the rate of rural households getting water supplied by pipe by 9 per cent and complete a target set for this in new- style rural areas, according to the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The rate is now 51.8 per cent, almost exactly the same as the national average, it said.

Cần Giuộc and Cần Đước are the two districts that have faced the worst shortage in recent years.  

In the 2019 – 20 dry season, for instance, more than 8,000 households in the two districts faced a shortage.

But the province has undertaken a number of water supply projects and basically resolved their shortage.    

Nguyễn Văn Việt, who lives in Cần Đước’s Phước Đông Commune and now gets tap water, said in the past most people there depended on the rain or rivers for water.

The water supply is now regular and meets the needs of households now, he added. – VNS