The environment and natural resources ministry's National Centre for Water Resource Planning and Survey announced this, following the minister's approval of the content and estimated cost of a project to discover groundwater resources for local residents living in mountainous areas and elsewhere where water was scarce in mid-December.
The project will survey and identify groundwater resources, where the reserves and quality can meet the requirements for domestic use, and prepare a map of groundwater resources available in areas where the project is being implemented.
The project will be carried in two phases during the 2015-2017 and 2018-2020 periods.
General Director of the centre Tong Ngoc Thanh said in areas where the project was being implemented, people faced several difficulties such as a serious scarcity of water.
In many areas, people had to travel dozens of kilometres to get water, Thanh said.
It was imperative to investigate and evaluate groundwater resources as well as to build a sustainable water supply system to ensure that residents living in these areas have access to clean water. These tasks should be properly invested and implemented in a compatible manner in order to meet the expectations of local residents and authorities, Thanh said.
The project aims to bring huge benefits for local residents in mountainous areas and in areas facing water shortages, and to contribute to the implementation of the national target programme on clean water and environment in rural areas and the programme on building new-style rural areas in the 2015-2020 period.
