People get free water at a public water supply site in Tiền Giang Province’s Gò Công Tây District during last year’s dry season. The province plans to set up 141 such free supply sites this year. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Trí

TIỀN GIANG — The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Tiền Giang has taken measures to supply water for daily use to more households in areas affected by saltwater intrusion to ensure no one has to buy water at high prices.

For its eastern region, which includes the districts of Gò Công Đông, Gò Công Tây, and Tân Phú Đông and Gò Công Town, it has drilled seven borewells at a cost of more than VNĐ10 billion (US$434,000), according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

It undertook 23 projects for installing pipes to carry water from pumping stations in Mỹ Tho City to areas in the east without tap water.

The eastern region now has 198 water pumping stations with a capacity of 98,640cu.m a day that supply 17,804 urban households and 118,266 rural households.

At the beginning of this dry season, which lasts between December and May, the province had finalised plans to set up 103 public water supply sites to provide free water to 6,516 families living in the east in rural and remote areas, outside sea dykes, along the coast, near estuaries, and in fields that do not get tap water and have difficulty getting water for daily use.

It has so far set up 41 of them to supply 1,400cu.m a day, and will set up the rest when the situation worsens.

It has instructed coastal districts to strengthen advocacy about storing freshwater appropriately and using it carefully.

In the islet district of Tân Phú Đông, which is severely affected by saltwater intrusion during the dry season, 1,500 of the 11,800 local households do not get tap water.

But 12 pipes with a total length of 24.2 kilometres have been laid to supply water to the three coastal communes of Phú Đông, Phú Tân and Phú Thạnh this year.

The district has also set up five free public water supply sites to benefit households in Phú Tân Commune.

It has pumped water from rivers when the salinity is below 2 grammes per litre into ponds for storing it.

These have helped resolve the shortage of water, Bùi Thái Sơn, secretary of the district's Party Committee and chairman of its People’s Committee, said. — VNS