Over 40,000ha of winter-spring and summer-fall rice in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang will be hurt by saline intrusion this year, said chief of the Office of the provincial Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue Tran Thanh Toan. 

Accordingly, salt water is forecast to encroach onto Long My district, part of Long My, Vi Thuy, Phung Hiep districts, Long My and Nga Bay townships and Vi Thanh city. 

The shortage of fresh water will occur in Long My township, Vi Thuy and Phung Hiep districts, and Vi Thanh city. 

Hau Giang has built hundreds of dykes, upgraded and repaired a number of sewers, and drained tens of canals in drought and saline intrusion-drone areas. The province also built stations to gauge salinity and water level in major estuaries. 

The committee is grasping situations to devise salinity forecast and warning plans as well as raising public awareness of storing fresh water to ensure sufficient water supply during the dry season. 

The province has also partnered with localities to provide support for households in risk of lacking fresh water, especially poor and near-poor households, policy beneficiaries, and ethnic minority groups. 

Hau Giang is forecast to face saline intrusion from February and the peak period of March-May.-VNA