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Phu Yen’s people have been experiencing scorching days for many months, when the temperature was 35-39oC. The rice fields have been affected and water wells dug by residents are becoming depleted. Thousands of households do not have enough water.

“The wells are depleted. We have to take water from streams for daily use. We have no other choice,” said Le Thi Sen in My Phu hamlet of An Hiep commune.

The water shortage is most serious in Son Dinh commune of Son Hoa mountainous district, where 500 local households live. Half of the households, mostly poor families, have to buy clean water at a high price of VND60,000-70,000 per cubic meter for daily use.

Every house has two to three personal water wells. However, the wells only give water in the rainy season..

Nguyen Van Hung in Hoa Binh hamlet of Son Dinh commune confirmed that there was no water in his well. He has spent VND120,000 on two cubic meters a week. 

Nguyen Van Tho in Hoa Nghia hamlet also said every drop of water is as precious as gold in the locality, where wells are depleted and water supply works don’t are not operating properly. He is using water taken from the stream nearby, filtering it in a crude way.

Son Dinh is listed as an especially difficult area with the average income per capita at VND1.5 million ($70) a month. Residents dig water wells as there is no tap water, and they must buy clean water at exorbitant prices.

Le Duy Sam in Hoa Binh hamlet fears that he will have no money to buy water one day. “I am 73 years old now and I cannot work. My wife is sick often. I don’t know how to earn money to buy water,” he said.

The serious water shortage has created a new job in the commune. Some locals have become water suppliers. They buy water from the only well which still provides water in the commune for the price of VND15,000-17,000 per cubic meter.

Local authorities said there are three concentrated water supply works in Son Dinh, each of which was built with investment capital of VND1 billion.

However, one of the three stopped operation many years ago. Another one, which supplied water to 154 households in three hamlets of Hoa Nghia, Hoa Thuan and Hoa Trinh, recently stopped operating.