Aim
Freshwater Availability in the Mekong Delta (FAME) is a collaborative, multiphase project focusing on scoping, piloting and providing upscaling advice to national partners in Vietnam on the implementation of shallow Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) systems. These systems could provide farm-scale solutions to address the water-quality and availability issues being faced in Ben Tre and Trah Vinh provinces in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
Partners
Netherlands: Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Deltares, Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Nelen & Schuurmans, Royal HaskoningDHV
Vietnam: Center of Water Management and Climate Change, of the Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Min (WACC), Division for Water Resources Planning and Investigation for the South of Vietnam (DWRPIS)
About the Project
This project is based on the continuing partnership and knowledge exchange between European project partners and Vietnamese authorities, professionals and local communities. Workshops and fieldwork will help water managers and local actors like farmers detect, understand and analyze the water supply versus demand paradigm and create a better understanding of how subsoil water storage like Aquifer Storage and Recovery systems, if implemented, could benefit farmers and help them solve the challenges they are facing in the region today and in the near future.
ASR systems have been tested and used both in the Netherlands and other countries like Australia, Israel and the USA, and provides the opportunity to recharge aquifers using rain and surface water by infiltrating or injecting it into the subsoil. Rainwater run-off to the sea is therefore avoided and precious fresh water can be safely stored in the subsoil for use in times of drought.
Experience gained from pilot sites will help to combat the salinization caused by salt water intrusion and provide a water-management framework to ensure resources are managed in a sustainable manner. By doing so, farmers will always have access to enough clean water during dry periods in vast volumes to grow their crops without having to worry about depleting the deep aquifers or increasing local land subsidence.
