Infrastructure effects on floods in the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam

Abstract

AbstractThe Mekong River Delta (MRD) is one of two primary rice‐growing areas in Vietnam. Flooding in the Mekong River is a recurrent event and is not only one of the most destructive natural disasters but also a natural resource in this area. The cultivated surface soil layer in the Mekong Delta has a thickness of only about 50 cm, and is heavily polluted by acidic water infiltrating from deeper soil layers during the dry season. The annual floods carry fertile silt to farmland and fresh water to wash away the acidic water and provide the water needed to grow vast rice fields. The flood water carries with it various fish species that facilitate aquaculture development in the area. The floods also wash away polluted water and provide the whole delta with clean water.Owing to these different factors, the flooding in this area has a positive impact on agriculture and a negative impact on regional planning. Recent infrastructural changes designed to mitigate flood damage and protect crops and residents' lives make the inundation regime more complicated. To understand the role of infrastructure in the flood regime in this area as well as the mechanism of the flood regime, it is necessary to apply an integrated method of study including numerical modelling, a geographic information system (GIS), and statistical analyses. This study includes a brief presentation of the measured data analysis of flood variation trends over the 43‐year period from 1961 to 2004 and an analysis of the hydrological effects of infrastructure changes associated with human activities in the period from 1996 to 2001 based on the integrated hydraulic model known as HydroGis. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.