Land subsidence a big threat to Mekong Delta
Land subsidence is worsening in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, and experts told a recent seminar in Can Tho city that over-exploitation of groundwater is one of the factors causing it.
Do Duc Dung, head of the Southern Institute of Water Resources Planning, told the seminar organised by Can Tho University and Utrecht University of the Netherlands to discuss groundwater planning and use and prevention of land subsidence that many studies have shown two to four centimetres of subsidence occurs in the delta each year.
“The increasing speed of land subsidence is threatening the future of the delta.”
The delta is facing challenges caused by decreasing sedimentation, illegal sand mining, riverbank and coastal erosion, and degradation of freshwater resources, he said.
