Deputy PM Hai made the warning while addressing a meeting held in northern Bac Giang province on Friday to mark the World Day of Water (March 22).
This year, World Water Day carries the theme of “Water and Sustainable Development,” which is aimed at calling on everyone to pay more attention to the important role of water, but also implies a warning about the risks of shortage or depletion of water supplies, Deputy PM Hai said.
“In the face of the impact of climate change, many provinces in south-central Vietnam are suffering heavy effects of drought. A number of areas have no more water sources left for production and daily life,” the official said.
Vietnam has 3,450 rivers and streams that provide a total volume of water of 830 billion cubic meters, but in fact, two-thirds of the amount flows into Vietnam from abroad, Deputy PM Hai said.
That means the volume of water created from inside Vietnam is just one-third of the above total, he stressed, adding that this leads to a volume of water per capita of only 3,500 cubic meters per year.
This reality shows that Vietnam is still a country lacking in water supply, especially when demand for water is increasingly growing, the official said.
“To address the many challenges related to water, we must work in a spirit of urgent cooperation, be open to new ideas and innovation, and prepared to share the solutions that we all need for a sustainable future,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for World Water Day 2015 on the UN website.
In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March as the first World Water Day. To date, World Water Day, a day to prepare for how to manage water in the future, has been celebrated around the world every year since, according to the website.
“A drop of water is flexible. A drop of water is powerful. A drop of water is in demand,” the website says.
Source: Tuoi Tre News | 21 March 2015
