Modelling The Environmental Impact of Controlling Saline Intrusion In The Mekong River Delta, Vietnam

The delta at the mouth of the Mekong River extends over 50,000 km2 in Vietnam and Cambodia. It is a highly productive environment both for rice and fish, but conflicts arise between their water quality demands. In this paper we focus on an investigation of this conflict in the Ca Mau peninsula, which lies entirely within Vietnam at the southern tip of the delta.

The study area is a highly modified environment in which the natural mangrove veg- etation has been removed and a complex network of natural and man-made channels has been created. In an attempt to manage salinity intrusion into this environment, a number of tidal sluices have been constructed in recent years leading to progressive expansion of the area suitable for intensification of rice production. However, this has also led to negative impact on fish and shrimp production due to the change from brackish to fresh water conditions.

The impact of this change is further exacerbated by the existence throughout a large part of the Ca Mau peninsula of acid sulphate soils. These are old marine sediments which are sulphur rich and have the potential to release sulphuric acid once they be- come oxidised. This has serious implications for productivity of rice fields and also for severe impacts on the aquatic environment.

This paper reports an interdisciplinary investigation of the environmental impact of these changes. We identify the sources of acidity, which include rice fields, shrimp ponds and excavated channel sediments. We add different water quality modules to an existing hydraulic and transport model to allow simulation of temporal and spatial variation of water quality within the study area. We show a special interest on the water exchange between the fields and the canals as the area suffers from floods and dry spells.