Thousands of people in Hoi An Town are facing a water shortage as the town suffers from a severe salinity problem.

A woman in Hoi An Town have to use bottled water for cooking.

Nguyen Viet Thanh, director of Hoi An Water Supply and Drainage JSC, confirmed on October 11 that the water plant on Vinh Dien River had to be shut down on October 6 due to saltwater intrusion. They had to use the reversed water from a 40,000-cubic-metre reservoir but it ran out three days later.

The company can only collect 5,000 to 6,000 cubic metres for a few hours during low tides while 11,000 households in Hoi An need 15,000 cubic metres of water each day. As a result, only some households living near the plant have fresh water.

At 5.15 pm on October 11, water came down and pushed back the saltwater. The company quickly took advantage of the situation to collect water for the whole town.

According to Thanh, the salinity prevention dam was opened after the harvesting season and caused the intrusion. However, Thanh said the saltwater intrusion was unusual and this was the first time this happened on Vinh Dien River.

57-year-old Le Cu was upset as his family did not have any water for three days or know why the water was cut. He came to the Hoi An Water Supply and Drainage JSC's office twice and was told that there would be water soon.

"The tourists are upset too when there is no water. My neighbours let us use their water to clean the house and bathe. But we had to buy bottled water to cook. No matter what the reason is, we should have been informed," he said.

Nguyen Van Dung, chairman of Hoi An Town, said 60% of the town's population didn't have water on October 9 and 10. He has ordered the Hoi An Water Supply and Drainage to quickly deal with the problem.

dtinews