Piped water supply in the rural areas of Can Tho

For solving the rural water crisis in Can Tho, political authorities currently focus on the construction of piped water supply schemes. However, piped water supply is an economically tight business in the Mekong Delta. This is mainly due to the ‘competition’ of piped water with other water sources, in particular rain water and groundwater from private wells.

For solving the rural water crisis in Can Tho, political authorities currently focus on the construction of piped water supply schemes. However, piped water supply is an economically tight business in the Mekong Delta. This is mainly due to the ‘competition’ of piped water with other water sources, in particular rain water and groundwater from private wells. The relatively small budget does not allow the Centre for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation (CERWASS) to permanently subsidise a loss making business.

Hence, local areas and hamlets have to fulfil certain conditions in order to qualify for piped water supply from CERWASS. For gaining sufficient fees from a water supply station, a potential location has to possess enough households that are willing to connect to the station, and at the same time these households must not be located too far from each other in order to limit the costs of constructing tubes. Households in areas not eligible for piped water supply rely on rain water, river water or – if they can afford it – private wells.

This map shows the water supply networks in Truong Xuan commune, Co Do district. The networks cover the settlements only partially. Moreover, not all households located within the blue marked areas are actually connected to the networks due to financial burdens. In total, only 36% of households are connected to one of the 10 CERWASS water supply stations. 9% of households are connected to a privately run water supply network.

The doctoral thesis on water supply and sanitation policy in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is investigating local water supply and sanitation systems, decision-making processes within the water bureaucracy and the ‘digestion’ of global policy ideas in Vietnam.

CERWASS water supply station in Truong Xuan, Co Do.

Nadine Reis