Impacts of climate change on groundwater resources in Vietnam: a short review

Abstract

Groundwater is a vital resource for climate-change adaption in Vietnam. Yet, groundwater resource is also affected by climate change and the impacts have just received more concern in recent years. In spite of that, various studies have conducted to evaluate the impacts of climate change on groundwater resources in Vietnam. The studies have been performed from the North (Ha Noi and Nam Dinh) to the Central (Binh Dinh, Serapok watershed, and Thanh Hoa) and the South of Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh city, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, and Mekong Delta). Hydroglogical and groundwater models are powerful tools applied for those studies. Besides, the change of rainfall, sea level rise, and urbanization are main factors, which are projected in different climate change scenarios for assessing the impacts; groundwater recharge, groundwater level, and groudwater quality are common components of groundwater resources, which are evaluated for the impacts of climate change. Based on the evaluation of such climate factors on groundwater components, many meaningful conclusions have been declared. This paper summarizes the results of recent studies on the impacts of climate change on groundwater resources with respect to various scenarios in Vietnam. Up-to-date studies mostly indicated the negative impacts that climate change will decrease the groundwater recharge and fresh groundwater availability or increase groundwater salinization, mainly in the coastal areas. The principal reasons are changes in rainfall, land-use change derived from climate change, and sea-level rise. Those studies have delivered valuable information for groundwater management and climate-change adaption strategies in Vietnam. Despite the variety of different research, there are still knowledge gaps of climate change – groundwater interaction e.g., indirect effects of climate change derived from increasing of groundwater abstraction and/or intensive agricultural practices in the future. Those issues are potential topics for future research.