Groundwater Use Habits and Environmental Awareness in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam: Implications for Sustainable Water Resource Management

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta including Ca Mau province (CMP) is seriously affected by land subsidence. Groundwater over-extraction is considered to be a major driver for this process. To address the reduction of groundwater (GW) extraction as a potential counter measure for further subsidence, this s...

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Main Authors: Van Cam Pham, Jonas Bauer, Nicolas Börsig, Johannes Ho, Long Vu Huu, Hoan Tran Viet, Felix Dörr, Stefan Norra
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-12-01
Series:Environmental Challenges
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010023000665
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author Van Cam Pham
Jonas Bauer
Nicolas Börsig
Johannes Ho
Long Vu Huu
Hoan Tran Viet
Felix Dörr
Stefan Norra
author_facet Van Cam Pham
Jonas Bauer
Nicolas Börsig
Johannes Ho
Long Vu Huu
Hoan Tran Viet
Felix Dörr
Stefan Norra
author_sort Van Cam Pham
collection DOAJ
description The Vietnamese Mekong Delta including Ca Mau province (CMP) is seriously affected by land subsidence. Groundwater over-extraction is considered to be a major driver for this process. To address the reduction of groundwater (GW) extraction as a potential counter measure for further subsidence, this study focuses on understanding the importance of GW in people's life and water using habits as well as their awareness with current environmental problems in Ca Mau. Therefore, GW sampling campaigns and surveys were conducted in all 9 districts of Ca Mau province in 2019 and 2020. The analyzed water samples showed a connection with information from questionnaires and created a general picture of water using habits. GW plays an important role in people's lives, it is used for washing, cooking, drinking and other activities. People use GW for different purposes depending on their perception of water quality. For important and direct health related purposes, such as cooking or drinking, people prepare to treat water more carefully or choose another alternative water resource. The analytical approach to evaluation results based on viewpoints from general to detail helped to dig deeper into people's stories to explain research results with their behavior in each situation. When people are dependent on GW and have no option to use alternative water resources, the importance level of GW in their life increases and their awareness of GW over-extraction becomes less. If people have another water source to use such as tap water (TW), habits of using GW change. This opens up the idea that a potential alternative water will reduce the dependence of people on GW and protect GW from over-exploitation. Besides, people in Ca Mau do not have much awareness of land subsidence or the reason leading to environmental problems. Therefore, raising the awareness of people by well-design education campaigns should be strongly considered.
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spelling doaj.art-afcae348ac5d4d3ab0e1e16c6e15b5fd2023-12-17T06:42:28ZengElsevierEnvironmental Challenges2667-01002023-12-0113100742Groundwater Use Habits and Environmental Awareness in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam: Implications for Sustainable Water Resource ManagementVan Cam Pham0Jonas Bauer1Nicolas Börsig2Johannes Ho3Long Vu Huu4Hoan Tran Viet5Felix Dörr6Stefan Norra7Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Applied Geosciences, Adenauerring 20b, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; Corresponding author.Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Applied Geosciences, Adenauerring 20b, 76131 Karlsruhe, GermanyKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Applied Geosciences, Adenauerring 20b, 76131 Karlsruhe, GermanyTechnology Center Water, Karlsruher Straße 84, 76139 KarlsruheKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), Engesserstraße 6, 76131 KarlsruheKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Applied Geosciences, Adenauerring 20b, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; National Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation (NAWAPI), No. 93, lane 95, Vu Xuan Thieu Street Sai Dong Ward, Long Bien District, Hanoi, Viet NamKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Applied Geosciences, Adenauerring 20b, 76131 Karlsruhe, GermanyPotsdam University, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, Soil Sciences and Geoecology, Campus Golm, Building 12, 14476 Potsdam Golm, GermanyThe Vietnamese Mekong Delta including Ca Mau province (CMP) is seriously affected by land subsidence. Groundwater over-extraction is considered to be a major driver for this process. To address the reduction of groundwater (GW) extraction as a potential counter measure for further subsidence, this study focuses on understanding the importance of GW in people's life and water using habits as well as their awareness with current environmental problems in Ca Mau. Therefore, GW sampling campaigns and surveys were conducted in all 9 districts of Ca Mau province in 2019 and 2020. The analyzed water samples showed a connection with information from questionnaires and created a general picture of water using habits. GW plays an important role in people's lives, it is used for washing, cooking, drinking and other activities. People use GW for different purposes depending on their perception of water quality. For important and direct health related purposes, such as cooking or drinking, people prepare to treat water more carefully or choose another alternative water resource. The analytical approach to evaluation results based on viewpoints from general to detail helped to dig deeper into people's stories to explain research results with their behavior in each situation. When people are dependent on GW and have no option to use alternative water resources, the importance level of GW in their life increases and their awareness of GW over-extraction becomes less. If people have another water source to use such as tap water (TW), habits of using GW change. This opens up the idea that a potential alternative water will reduce the dependence of people on GW and protect GW from over-exploitation. Besides, people in Ca Mau do not have much awareness of land subsidence or the reason leading to environmental problems. Therefore, raising the awareness of people by well-design education campaigns should be strongly considered.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010023000665groundwater extractiongroundwater use habitsenvironmental awarenessCa Mau
spellingShingle Van Cam Pham
Jonas Bauer
Nicolas Börsig
Johannes Ho
Long Vu Huu
Hoan Tran Viet
Felix Dörr
Stefan Norra
Groundwater Use Habits and Environmental Awareness in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam: Implications for Sustainable Water Resource Management
Environmental Challenges
groundwater extraction
groundwater use habits
environmental awareness
Ca Mau
title Groundwater Use Habits and Environmental Awareness in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam: Implications for Sustainable Water Resource Management
title_full Groundwater Use Habits and Environmental Awareness in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam: Implications for Sustainable Water Resource Management
title_fullStr Groundwater Use Habits and Environmental Awareness in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam: Implications for Sustainable Water Resource Management
title_full_unstemmed Groundwater Use Habits and Environmental Awareness in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam: Implications for Sustainable Water Resource Management
title_short Groundwater Use Habits and Environmental Awareness in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam: Implications for Sustainable Water Resource Management
title_sort groundwater use habits and environmental awareness in ca mau province vietnam implications for sustainable water resource management
topic groundwater extraction
groundwater use habits
environmental awareness
Ca Mau
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010023000665
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