Building Resilience to Saline Intrusion in the Mekong Delta

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Project Description

The rural communities of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta rely on abundant wet season freshwater for agricultural productivity, yet increasingly face challenges accessing clean water during the dry season. In recent years, saline intrusion into river and groundwater systems has intensified and persisted longer due to dry season water demand, hydropower development, sand mining, and land subsidence—trends expected to worsen with climate change. In response, the Building Resilience to Saline Intrusion in the Mekong Delta initiative assessed the rural domestic water supply sector and aimed to strengthen its resilience to saline intrusion and other climate-related hazards.

Objectives, Activities, and Results

The project conducted a delta-wide situation analysis of water supply capacity, water source quality, and existing management systems. Hazard mapping and projections were developed for climate scenarios up to 2050. Vulnerability assessments of water systems were performed both regionally and in two case study locations, addressing six hazards: saline intrusion, flood, drought, erosion, land subsidence, and pollution. The project recommended tailored structural and non-structural interventions, and developed tools such as a Source Assessment Methodology, Climate Resilience Framework, and Water Safety Plan. Results informed adaptive water infrastructure planning and enhanced climate resilience in the Mekong Delta’s domestic water supply sector.

client:

World Bank

LOCATION:

Vietnam

TIME:

Decision Support System

The Mekong Basin’s complex monsoon climate makes it highly vulnerable to climate change, with rising temperatures, drier dry seasons, and wetter wet seasons. As part of the DELTA Tools for the Mekong Delta project, ICEM developed a Decision Support Framework (DSF) toolkit to guide sustainable development planning across the Vietnam Mekong Delta. Click here to visit the website.

Publications

As part of the TA Climate Resilient Rural Water Supply Systems in the Mekong Delta project in South Vietnam, an integrated series of reports covering the domestic water supply systems at the delta-wide level were produced:

Climate Resilience Framework Overview – Final report
Volume I: Situation Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment Report – Final report
Volume II: Tools for Building Resilience of Centralized Rural Domestic Water Supply Systems – Final report
Volume III: Resilient Infrastructure Recommendations for Water Supply in the Mekong Delta – Final report