Assessment of Current Situation and Orientations for Exploitation, Utilization, and Protection of Groundwater Resources in Water-Scarce Areas of South-central Vietnam

Groundwater resources are an extremely urgent topic for human life in the 21st century. The growing global population followed increasing water exigency for people' s activities, during water reduction and pollution in most countries around the world. Vietnam is one of the countries affected by climate change and water resource decreasing phenomena. Currently, the shortage of freshwater is still prevalent in water- scarce regions throughout Vietnam, notably the South Central region with 7 provinces: Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan. In the South Central region, the total exploitable reserves are 50,691 m3/day, of which Khanh Hoa province has the largest exploitable reserves with 12,758 m3/day; Ninh Thuan province has the smallest exploitable reserves, 1,834 m3/day. In this report, the authors will focus on assessing the current status and orientation of exploitation, use, and protection of groundwater resources in water-scarce areas in the South Central region. The results of the study show that the area has 8 layers/reservoir zone including Pleistocene sedimentary hole aquifers, fissure aquifers, fissures - sediment holes aged from Arkeozoic to Mezozoic and reservoirs along tectonic faults in intrusive rocks, The eruption is forecast to be 12,816 m3/day and can supply a total of 128,160 people with a water usage standard of 100 l/person/day. The report has identified sanitary protection zones for residential water supply and recharge zones (replenishment areas) for particular projects, with a minimum radius of 20 meters for each project and a protection area of 3.0 to 12.0 km2 for the recharge zones, to reasonably and sustainably exploitation, utilization, and protection of groundwater resources.