Orchards Wither, Water Supplies Fail As Vietnamese Drought Intensifies

[hatrack]

2000 custard apple trees, around four years old. To a tree, they withered and died. That was a month ago. Now, he can do nothing but watch a hectare of his mango trees fade in the relentless heat.

“Draught like this... there’s no way I can save the trees,” says Tien of An Cu Commune, Tinh Bien District in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, whose family’s livelihood depends on the fruit trees. The farmer has faced draught in the mountainous region earlier, but he has “surrendered to the rare harsh heat of this year.”

Actually, Tien is not worried about water for the trees. Not anymore. “I’d have to leave them anyway. But if it keeps being so hot, even people would have little water.” Tien had spent VND4 million (US$208) trying to drill a borewell to save his trees, but the workers left after several days of looking for water and finding nothing underground.

EDIT

More than 1,000 families in Bien Bach Commune of the delta’s Ca Mau Province are also facing a severe water shortage. Some ponds that still have water in the area have been salinized, said commune head Tran Van Tuan. People now buy water from boats for VND10,000 every 200 liters. Official water suppliers in other delta provinces charge people VND3,000 a cubic meter, which is much cheaper.

EDIT

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/Not-a-drop-to-drink.aspx