Write an Introduction (1000 word) about Mekong Delta River and the problem that the residents of Mekong delta River faced about wealthy water and undrinkable water.
- Where is located?
- Climate of Mekong Delta River?
- The life in Mekong Delta River?
With references followed Harvard References ?
SOLUTION
Mekong Delta River
Mekong Delta River is located in the southwestern region of Vietnam, which is also known as rice basket. The river of Mekong encompasses the large area of southwestern Vietnam, which is around 39,000 square kilometers, but the size of the area that is covered by the river entirely depends over the season (Mekong Delta 2004). Mekong Delta is the watery landscape surrounded by green fields, villages, canals and rivulets. The life of the inhabitants is toiled by the life sustaining river. The flow of Mekong comes mainly through the rainfall in lower basin that usually fluctuates due to the monsoon winds. In May or June southern monsoon arrive with rain bearing winds, the river flow increases in northern and eastern highlands of river.
The main occupation of people over there is irrigation and rice crop, as the river water is important for agriculture production. The population of small urban has increased rapidly through the migration of the capital cities. Lower Mekong river temperature is uniformly warm throughout the year. Due to the climate change, the sea level is especially susceptible to the floods. The most expected area where flood might occur due to the rise in the sea level of 1 meter is the province of Ben Tre and Long An (Nguyen 2007).
The people residing in the Mekong Delta are mostly farmers and fisherman. These people live on the edge of the rivers or the canals on the different structures that are built from the wooden material or the extra material found. Life in the Mekong Delta is woven through this river as this is the daily activity and business of the people which is connected with the banks. The most popular trade of this region is ship yards, markets, stores, and repair shops. Most of the people living in the basin are diverse, and most of the residents residing in the uppermost Mekong Valley are Tibetan.
Commonly spoken language of this region is Tibeto-Burman, Tai, Hmong-Mien, Austronesia, and Mon-Khmer. Majority of the population belongs to the ethnic group of this region that includes Han Chinese that speaks the Tibeto-Burman, Thai of Thailand, and Lao of Laos languages. Snake industry is another popular industry in this region, which is initially created for medicinal usage of reptile venom. It also includes twenty different varieties of snakes and other species like boas, and turtles.
Problem that resident of Mekong delta river face with respect to wealthy water and undrinkable water
The Tien River which is flooding in the various provinces in the Mekong Delta are highly contaminated with the pollutants and the level of pollution has increased to 100 times that is affecting the life of people living near the river, as it impacts their life and health. According to the tests conducted by the department of natural resources and environment in Tien Giang and Vinh Long provinces in the surface water of the river, the sample shows that iron ammonium which is generated from animal waste and sewer water, suspended solids, chemical oxygen, biochemical oxygen, and biological oxygen has increased as by the limit or standards set by the Vietnam government (Tre 2012).
Last year when the natural resource department conducted the survey in 42 locations it was analyzed that samples were failed to meet the main targets of safety. Oil and grease content in the river has also increased from 1.5 to 7.5% as per the set limits, while the Coliform content has increased from 100 to 1,000 times that lead to the cause of bowel disease. These bacteria cause serious infections. If all the cities situated near the river are analyzed, the entire volume of wastewater is large. This contaminated water is dangerous for the life of the people who uses it in their day to day life. Mekong River is also polluted through the waste generated from the industries, factories, and breeding farms that is situated outside the industrial parks. Large investment is done in building the wastewater treatment system; therefore, many companies discharge their waste in the river and are even ready to pay the fines as it is less then investing in wastewater treatment system (ISG Newsletter 2006).
Several rivers around the world are facing the problem of maintaining the natural resource base, which has become one of the essential factors in influencing the sustainable developing. In the last three decades, many water control works has been conducted in the Mekong Delta River for improving the irrigation, saline prevention, flood drainage, and soil improvement. Every year 10% of the budget and the labor are employed for developing the irrigation through controlling the waste in river. Residents living near Mekong River are also facing the problem of undrinkable water. There are mainly two major quantity problems and three problems related with quality, which is the limiting factor in production of agriculture and even influences the human health residing in delta:
- Salinity incursion– There are around 2.1 million area near the Mekong Delta coastal area that counts to about 50% that is affected by the salinity at the time of dry season. Dry season is from December to May.
- Floods– Mekong River also faces the problem of flood as Mekong River discharge at the time of wet season that averages 39,000 m3/sec. High rainfall and high tidal level in the sea has high flow rate from the upstream that leads to the high floods in the Delta of Mekong. IT is estimated that 1.2-1.9 million hectares of the south western area of the Delta comes under the annual flood. Flood in these areas has disturbed the life of many people.
- Polluted Water– People living near the Mekong River are facing the water pollution problem through the industrial chemicals, agriculture, and untreated water waste in domestic area. At some places polluted water is really dangerous to the health of the public and hampers the socio-economic development.
- Shortage of Fresh water-In the dry season at Mekong Delta the discharge of Mekong River is under the 2,500 m 3/s, and even go low at 1,700 m 3/s that lowers the ground water by 2-3 m at few places near the river (Garcia 2002). There is a water scarcity for the irrigation that seriously impacts the 1.5 million hectares of the land used for cultivation in the dry season.
References
Garcia , L. 2002. Overview of Early Warning Systems for Hydro-Meteorological Hazards in Selected Countries in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Philippines and Vietnam). Bangkok: Asian Disaster Preparedness Center [ADPC].
ISG Newsletter. 2006. MRC countries agree on procedures for Mekong flows. Ministry of Agriculture and Development. International Support Group Newsletter. 3, pp. 1-6.
Mekong Delta. 2004. [Online]. Available at: http://www.vietscape.com/travel/mekong/ [Accessed on: 30 May 2012].
Nguyen, H. N. 2007. Flooding in Mekong River Delta, Viet Nam. [Online]. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2007-8/papers/Nguyen_Huu%20Ninh.pdf [Accessed on: 30 May 2012].
Tre, T. 2012. Tien River heavily contaminated, agency warns. [Online]. Available at: http://mouthtosource.org/rivers/mekong/category/contamination/ [Accessed on: 30 May 2012].
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