Sustainable water management for rural development in the Mekong river delta, Vietnam

The Mekong River Delta (MD) in Vietnam has an area of 4 million hectares. The economical production in this region is highly dependent on water from the river and canal system. More than two-third of 17 million inhabitants of the MD live in rural areas and depend totally on the water resources for rice, upland crop irrigation, aquaculture of fish and shrimp, domestic drinking and industrial water supply and for transportation on rivers and canals