Proceedings of the 19

th
IAHR-APD Congress 2014, Hanoi, Vietnam

ISBN xxx-xxxx-xx-x

1
Water Quality Assessment in Coastal Areas of Lower Mekong Delta, South Vietnam
TRAN DANG AN
(1)
, TRUONG THU HANG
(1)
, TRIEU ANH NGOC
(1)
, VO LE PHU
(2)


(1)
Water Resources University, 2nd Base, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
dangancnn2012@gmail.com
(2)
Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology-VNU,Vietnam, 268 Ly Thuong Kiet, HCM City, Vietnam
ABSTRACT
Water quality is first consideration in choosing water resources for many purposes, especially in drinking and irrigation.
In the Mekong Delta, the quality of water resources is seriously affected by many complicated factors such as wastewater,
arsenic contamination and seawater intrusion. This paper aims to assess water quality, servicing for domestic and
irrigation purposes in coastal areas of Soc Trang province, the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The water quality index (WQI)
and variable irrigation water quality indexes (IWQIs) such as sodium adsorption ratio ( SAR), Kelly's ratio (KR), residual
sodium carbonate (RSC), solute sodium percentage (SSP) and permeability index (PI) were deployed to evaluate water
quality regarding domestic and agricultural water demands. Water samples were taken by seasonal characteristics and
tidal regime in 2013 and 2014. Main parameters include Temperature (T
0
C), Electrical Conductivity(EC), pH, Dissolved
Oxygen(DO), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), Total Hardness (TH), calcium (Ca
2+
), magnesium (Mg
2+
), sodium (Na
+
),
bicarbonate (HCO3
-
), chloride (Cl
-
), sulfate (SO4
2-
) and nitrate (NO3
-
) were analyzed for the calculation of WQI and IWQIs.
The results show that, almost groundwater samples at shallow aquifers, some of the deeper aquifers and river water
samples in dry season were seriously affected by seawater intrusion and nitrate contamination. This means that these
water resources cannot use for both drinking and agricultural purposes. Meanwhile, most of groundwater samples at
middle and lower Pleistocene aquifers and surface water in rainy season seem to be good for both drinking and irrigation.
However, groundwater source in Soc Trang province has been excessively extracted without suitable regulation and
appropriate management. This situation may threat to groundwater source because it can be easily contaminated by
seawater intrusion and wastewater. In order to extract, use and manage effectively fresh water source in coastal areas in
the Mekong delta, emergent management practices should be considered.
Keywords: Water quality assessment, Water quality index (WQI), Irrigation water quality indexes (IWQIs), Soc Trang, Mekong Delta
1. INTRODUCTION
Water plays an extremely important role to human's life
and ecosystems on the planet. And ensuring water quality
for drinking and irrigation is a big challenge in the context
of water resources deterioration due to negative effects of
anthropogenic activities and climate change (UN-Water,
2010). Monitoring and evaluating water quality are
needed to understand water resources status and consider
relevant solution for sustainable use and effective
management. Practically, however, monitoring system
provides us a large and complex water quality data while
the reviewers who would access these data are variable,
including managers, policy makers and publics (Saffran et
al., 2001). Therefore, the overall water quality index that
comprises main water parameters to assess water quality
for drinking and irrigation purposes have been developed
and globally applied as well-known water quality index
(WQI), (GEMS, 2007; Tyagi et al., 2013) and irrigation
water quality indexes (IWQIs) such as sodium adsorption
ratio (SAR), Kelly's ratio (KR), residual sodium carbonate
(RSC), solute sodium percentage (SSP) and permeability
index (PI). Although, these water quality indexes have
been widely applied in many countries in the world, the
application of these water quality indexes in assessing
water resources quality in Vietnam is still limitation.
Therefore, this paper intends to make clear understanding
on water quality in coastal areas of the Mekong Delta.
Mekong Delta is the most important delta in Vietnam
where contributing more than 60% of agricultural
production of the country and accounting for more than
95% of rice production exporting over the world (Anh,
2010). In the Mekong Delta, surface water and
groundwater contribute significant benefits to socio-
economic development (Ghassemi.F and Brennan.D,
2000). However, water quality, especially surface water
has been increasingly deteriorated due to human activities
(Toan et al., 2013), seawater intrusion (Nguyen et al.,
2012). Consequently, groundwater source has been
excessively extracted and seriously threaten by seawater
intrusion directly from East Sea, saline diffusion (IUCN,
2011; Wagner et al., 2010) and arsenic contamination
(Laura E. Erbana et al., 2013). These affect not only on
groundwater uses at present but also for future
sustainability of water use in the Mekong Delta, especially
in coastal regions.
In Soc Trang province, the coastal region of Mekong
Delta, surface water is strongly affected by seawater.
Thus, groundwater has become a preliminary fresh water
source for domestic, industrial and agricultural activities.
However, because of locating in coastal areas,
groundwater source in Soc Trang province is highly
vulnerable than other parts of the Mekong Delta due to
the effects of over groundwater extraction, human wastes
and waste water, seawater intrusion, acid sulfate soils
dissolution. Therefore, the assessment of both surface
water and groundwater quality is a vital concern for
sustainable use and effective management of water
resources.
2
2. STYDY AREA
This study was carried out in Soc Trang province, a
coastal region of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The
province is located in the lower reach of the Mekong
River. It covers an area of 2311.76 km
2
, approximately
0.7% and 5.9 % areas of Vietnam and Mekong Delta,
respectively with average population of 1,292,796 people
(VGSO, 2009)

Figure 1. Location of Soc Trang province, Southern Vietnam
Soc Trang province falls in strong tropical monsoon
activity region with two different seasons; the dry and the
rainy seasons. In the wet season, the province is affected
by the Southwest Monsoon, which brings more than 85%
amount of rainfall annually, high temperatures and high
humidity. Meanwhile, the Northeast Monsoon dominates
in the dry season from November until April, receiving
dry air with hardly any precipitation (15% of the annual
rainfall), lower temperature and lower humidity. The
average annual air temperature in Soc Trang province is
26.8C with over 28C in the warmest months (April and
May) and the lowest mean monthly temperature in
January is 24.6C; average annual relative humidity of
84%; and annual precipitation of 1,772 mm with lack of
rain from January to April annually (MIST,2013). Because
topography is relatively low, around 0.5 to 2.5 m above
mean sea levels, coupled with facing directly with East
Sea and the Hau river (Bassac River). Soc Trang province
is frequently influenced by inflow from upstream,
flooding and river-marine dynamic interactions such as
tidal regime, sea wave, sediment transportation and
deposition as well as riverbank erosion. These factors can
affect significantly on water quality in the province.
3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The field investigation and sampling of river, canal and
groundwater (Fig.1), were performed in dry and rainy
seasons between 2013 and 2014. Totally, 142 water
samples were stored in 100ml bottles, including 101
groundwater and 41 surface water samples. Groundwater
samples were collected from private tube-wells at seven
aquifers, including Holocene (qh),upper Pleistocene (qh3),
middle Pleistocene (qp23), lower Pleistocene (qp1),
middle Pliocene (n22), lower Pliocene (n21) and Miocene
(n13) in Soc Trang province (as shown in Figure 2) with
the depth of wells ranges from 4.5 m to 480m under land
surface. Surface water samples were taken along the Hau
river and its tributaries at Soc Trang province. The pH,
Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Electrical Conductivity (EC),
Total dissolved solids (TDS) were on-site measured using
portable meters. Meanwhile, main ion compositions
including major cations (Na
+
, K
+
, Ca
2+
, Mg
2+
) and major
anions (Cl
-
, SO4
2-
, NO3
-
, HCO3
-
) were analyzed at
University of Tsukuba, Japan.
The results of hydrochemistry as shown in Table 1, were
used to calculated WQI and irrigation water quality
indexes( SAR, KR, RSC, SSP, PI) in order to understand
acceptable water quality for drinking and irrigation
purposes.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Hydrochemistry
The hydrochemistry of surface and groundwater was
performed in Tables 1 and 2 by the descriptive statistic
method. The box and Whisker plot for different water
quality parameters are given in the Figures 2 and 3, and
classification of water types and general groundwater
evolution were clearly described in Figure 4. Generally,
pH of river and canal water samples was slight alkaline,
whilst groundwater is from slight acidic to alkaline in
nature. The electrical conductivity (EC) values of both
surface and groundwater varied widely.
0.1
1
10
100
1000
10000
100000
TDS Na K Ca Mg CL NO3 S04 HCO3-
Main water parameters of Groundwater
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
(
m
g
/
L
)
Max
Median
75 %
25%
Min
Legend

Figure 2. Box and Whisker Plot of groundwater for different
water quality parameters
1
10
100
1000
10000
100000
TDS Na K Ca Mg CL NO3 S04 HCO3-
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
(
m
g
/
L
)
Main water parameters of River water in Dry season
0.1
1
10
100
1000
10000
TDS Na K Ca Mg CL NO3 S04 HCO3-
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
(
m
g
/
L
)
Main water parameters of River water in Rainy season
Max
Median
75 %
25%
Min
Legend

Figure 3. Box and Whisker Plot of surface water in the dry and
rainy seasons for different water quality parameters
G1: Mg-Na-Ca-HCO3
G2: Na-Cl
G3: Na-HCO3-Cl
Mg-Ca
Gypsum-anhydrite
Dissolution
Ion exchanges
Seawater intrusion
Calcite saturation
Desalination
G1
G2
G3

Figure 4. Durov diagram for classification water type
The EC values of river and canal water ranges from 118 to
24,300 S/cm with average value of 9,465.24 S/cm,
3
whereas that of groundwater varies from 116.70 S/cm to
21,200 S/cm with average of 1,678.32 S/cm. As shown
in Tables 1 and 2, calcium (Ca
2+
), magnesium (Mg
2+
) and
sodium (Na
+
) ions were major cations, while anions were
dominated by bicarbonate (HCO3
-
) and chloride (Cl
-
). The
possible sources of sodium, calcium and magnesium
concentration in these areas are due to the calcite and
dolomite dissolution, meanwhile high chloride
concentration may be driven from dissolution rock salts
and seawater intrusion. Fig.4 showed the different
characteristics of water resources in this area. Almost
shallow groundwater and surface water samples were
seriously affected by seawater intrusion, characterized by
Na-Cl type. Groundwater samples at middle and lower
Pleistocene and Miocene aquifers were dominated by Mg-
Ca-HCO3 and Na-HCO3-Cl types, respectively. It is also
obviously evidenced that groundwater in this study area
represents variable hydrogeological processes. Most of
shallow groundwater shows ion exchanges processes,
particularly influenced by seawater intrusion, while some
of deeper aquifers (Pliocene and Miocene) were affected
by paleo-saline and calcite rocks dissolution and tends to
calcite saturation. Groundwater at middle and lower
Pleistocene aquifers reveal two main tendencies, on the
one hand these samples were affected by dolomite
dissolution, representing an increase of calcite (Ca
2+
) and
magnesium (Mg
2+
) ions concentration, some of them have
been experienced by gypsum and anhydrite dissolution,
denoting an increase of sulfate (SO4
2-
) constituent.
4.2 Water quality for drinking
Water quality index (WQI) was widely used as a very
useful tool to evaluate water quality servicing for drinking
purpose (Jagadeeswari and Ramesh, 2012; Tyagi et al.,
2013). WQI is defined as a rating reflecting the composite
influence of different water parameters (Sahu and
Sikdar, 2008). Calculating WQI based upon perspective
of suitability of water sources for human consumption
via three steps. In the first step, each of the chemical
parameter was assigned a weight (wi), based on its
perceived effects on human health. The highest weight
of five was assigned to parameters, which have the
major effects on water quality. In this area, nitrate
concentration (NO3
-
) was assigned the highest weight
because of its importance to water quality assessment.
The second step involves in computing the relative
weight of each parameter via using the equation Eq. [1]
as below:
=

i
i
W
i
W
W [1]
where,

i
w is the sum of the weights of all parameters.
In this research,
i
w were 31. Table 3 shows the wi,
Wi and WHO standard for each chemical composition
in this study. In the third step, a quality rating scale (qi)
was computed for each parameter using the equation
Eq. [2], given below:
= 100
i
i
C
i
S
q [2]
where,
Ci and Si, respectively present the concentration and
the WHO standard for each parameter, in mg/L. The
water quality subindex, SIi of each parameter was
calculated by using equation Eq. [3], given below:
=
i i i
SI W q [3]
Eventually, WQI is calculated by summing ten sub-
indexes (SI
i
) of each water sample, as described in Eq. [4]
below:
=
i
WQI SI [4]
The WQI values of surface water and groundwater in this
study were presented in Table 4, showing different
tendencies. The WQI values of groundwater samples vary
largely, ranging from 22.27 to 2319.25 with coefficient of
variation of 217.04%, indicating the different water
quality between aquifers. The WQI values of surface
water demonstrate distinctly changes between rainy and
dry seasons. In the dry season, despite of seawater
intrusion effects, the WQI values of surface water were
higher than that of values in the rainy season with
average of 534.93 and 88.77, respectively. Groundwater
samples at Holocene (qh) and upper Pleistocene (qh3)
aquifers show very poor water quality and cannot use for
drinking purpose and approximately 30%-40%
groundwater samples at deeper aquifers (Pliocene,
Miocene) can use for that purpose. Most of groundwater
samples at middle and lower Pleistocene aquifers present
good quality and are favorite aquifers for extracting to
meet the demand of fresh water in coastal areas of Soc
Trang province. Surface water shows very different
quality between dry and rainy seasons. In the dry season,
95.24% of surface water samples cannot use for human
consumption due to seawater intrusion, however in the
rainy season 75% of surface water samples can be used for
drinking purpose, excepting some areas along the coast
despite of effect of salinity. Notably, although surface
water can be used in the rainy season, it should be
carefully considered for human use because of being
contaminated by wastes and wastewater from human
activities via runoffs.
Table 1 Descriptive statistics of groundwater hydrochemistry
in Soc Trang province in 2013 and 2014
Parameter Min Max Mean SD CV(%)
Temp 25.00 40.30 29.70 3.01 10.13
Depth 4.50 490.00 139.90 106.73 76.29
pH 6.52 8.68 7.25 0.36 4.96
DO 0.59 5.13 1.92 0.71 36.92
EC 116.70 21200.0 1678.32 3493.89 208.18
TDS 75.86 14204.0 1120.3 2342.1 209.07
Na
+
16.88 8535.80 437.82 1340.30 306.13
K
+
1.95 278.81 17.30 34.17 197.50
Ca
2+
1.05 970.48 66.42 157.81 237.61
Mg
2+
3.15 1290.06 69.17 168.36 243.39
Cl
-
2.85 16970.45 727.18 2762.54 379.90
NO3
-
0.11 264.18 18.52 52.54 283.68
SO4
2-
0.02 2511.29 148.09 351.77 237.53
HCO3
-
37.83 779.23 353.45 130.03 36.79
TH 15.61 7712.98 451.03 1059.84 234.98
WQI 22.27 2319.25 163.55 354.97 217.04
SAR 0.92 73.72 7.30 12.53 171.69
KR 0.25 58.55 3.35 8.72 260.09
RSC 0.14 146.30 6.73 20.57 305.37
SSP 20.17 98.32 48.34 21.08 43.61
PI 15.02 95.14 39.05 10.40 26.63
MS 0.00 5.00 3.88 1.61 41.59
Notes: EC: Electrical Conductivity ( S/cm), Tem. (
0
C), ions concentration, DO: Dissolved
Oxygen (mg/L); TDS: Total Dissolved Solid (mg/L), RSC (meq/L), remain parameters (no
unit): TH: total hardness; SAR: sodium ad sorption ratio; KR: Kellys ratio; RSC: residual
sodium carbonate; SSP: solute sodium percentage; PI: permeability index.
4
4.3 Water quality for irrigation
Despite of salt intrusion, surface water quality in Soc
Trang province changes significantly between the dry and
rainy seasons, especially in coastal areas. Meanwhile,
groundwater has been intensively exploited for both
domestic and irrigation purposes. Therefore, assessing
water quality of both surface and groundwater, provides
useful information for balancing between usage and
extraction water resources in coastal areas. Similar to
other coastal areas of the Mekong Delta, the province's
groundwater plays an important role to agricultural
activities such as onion, legume, sugarcane cultivation
household consumption. It is estimated that more than
85% of water for agricultural water in coastal areas such
as Tran De, Vinh Chau some parts of Cu Lao Dung and
Long Phu districts, depends on groundwater resource.
River and canal water can use for irrigation in other parts
of Soc Trang province where are not affected by seawater
intrusion . In order to evaluate water quality for irrigation
purposes, variable indicators including sodium
adsorption ratio (SAR), Kelly's ratio (KR), residual sodium
carbonate (RSC), solute sodium percentage (SSP) and
permeability index (PI) were calculated. The sodium
absorption ratio (SAR) for surface and groundwater was
estimated as the given equation Eq [5] below:
+
+ +
+
=
2 2
2
Ca Mg
Na
SAR [5]
where,
Na
+
, Ca
2+
and Mg
2+
are solute concentrations of sodium,
calcite and magnesium in meq/L.
The water samples having SAR values less than 10 are
categorized excellent water quality, from 10 to 18 as good,
from 18 to 26 as fair and above 26 are unsuitable for
irrigation use (USDA, 1954). The Kelley's ratio was
calculated by using the following expression.
+
+ +
+
=
2 2
Na
Ca Mg
KR [6]

where,
Na
+
, Ca
2+
and Mg
2+
are solute concentrations of sodium,
calcite and magnesium in meq/L.
The Kelley's ratio of unity or less than one indicates good
water quality for irrigation, while above one is unsuitable
for agricultural purpose because of alkaline hazards
(Karanth, 1987 ). The residual sodium carbonate (RCS) is
determined by using the equation (Eq.[7]) below.
+ +
+ + =
2 2 2
3 3
) ( ) ( RCS HCO CO Ca Mg [7]
where, the concentration of ions are expressed in meq/L.
Table 2 - Descriptive statistics of surface water hydrochemistry in the rainy and dry seasons, 2013 -2014
Parameter
Dry Season

Rainy Season
Min Max Mean SD CV(%)

Min Max Mean SD CV(%)
Temp 25.90 30.10 28.44 1.02 3.59

27.80 33.30 29.36 1.02 3.49
pH 7.36 8.04 7.81 0.22 2.86

6.57 7.75 7.39 0.29 3.97
DO 3.64 6.65 5.27 0.88 16.62

1.53 5.37 3.99 0.98 24.66
EC 118.00 24300.00 9465.24 7062.63 74.62

133.20 13320.00 1372.22 3024.73 220.43
TDS 138.16 13329.39 5694.91 3812.86 66.95

89.24 8924.40 919.38 2026.57 220.43
Na
+
13.40 4877.02 1673.11 1418.07 84.76

5.98 2632.92 233.12 598.54 256.75
K
+
-1.67 255.06 77.02 66.82 86.76

1.58 98.98 10.37 22.20 214.07
Ca
2+
9.36 174.34 70.45 49.18 69.81

13.22 111.39 23.94 22.01 91.94
Mg
2+
0.66 625.91 209.41 180.65 86.27

3.48 334.46 32.54 75.36 231.58
Cl
-
14.50 9354.58 3103.31 2646.25 85.27

2.44 4642.72 396.87 1058.67 266.75
NO3
-
0.06 234.40 107.18 93.23 86.99

0.49 23.43 3.14 5.30 168.53
SO4
2-
20.50 1677.79 624.50 502.58 80.48

5.94 536.06 53.13 120.22 226.25
HCO3
-
67.10 137.00 90.72 15.21 16.77

71.39 136.07 84.06 17.15 20.41
TH 47.31 3014.58 1038.89 864.31 83.20

50.14 1656.44 193.94 365.30 188.36
WQI 31.53 1415.58 534.93 380.82 71.19

24.02 743.99 88.77 164.37 185.15
SAR 0.62 38.71 20.12 10.82 53.77

0.37 28.19 4.30 6.87 159.91
KR 0.33 4.07 3.25 0.83 25.50

0.26 3.47 1.29 1.15 89.14
RSC 0.27 58.42 19.24 17.03 88.51

0.02 30.90 2.58 7.01 271.17
SSP 24.89 80.28 74.46 11.77 15.81

20.60 77.63 46.38 21.40 46.13
PI 18.39 57.81 23.69 11.39 48.10

18.83 91.60 54.68 23.59 43.14
MS 0.00 5.00 1.05 1.24 118.75

0.00 5.00 3.70 1.78 48.11
Notes: EC: Electrical Conductivity ( S/cm), Tem. (
0
C), ions concentration, DO: Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L); TDS: Total Dissolved Solid (mg/L), RSC (meq/L), remain
parameters (no unit): TH: total hardness; SAR: sodium ad sorption ratio; KR: Kellys ratio; RSC: residual sodium carbonate; SSP: solute sodium percentage; PI:
permeability index.
Table 3 The weight and relative weight of each of the chemical
parameters used for the WQI determination
Physico-chemical
parameters
WHO
Standard
wi W
pH 7.5 4 0.1290
Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) 1000 4 0.1290
Total Hardness (TH) 300 2 0.0645
Bicarbonate (HCO3
-
) 300 3 0.0968
Calcium (Ca
2+
) 75 2 0.0645
Magnesium (Mg
2+
) 30 2 0.0645
Sodium (Na
+
) 200 2 0.0645
Chloride (Cl
-
) 250 3 0.0968
Nitrate (NO3
-
) 50 5 0.1613
Sulfate (SO4
2-
) 250 4 0.1290
Sum 31 1.0
Notes: Ions concentration , TDS, and TH (mg/L);
5
According to USDA (1954), RCS less than 1.25 meq/L, the
water source is safe for irrigation, RCS ranges from 1.25 to
2.5 meq/L, indicating quite suitability, while RCS exceeds
2.5 meq/L, the water is generally unsuitable for irrigation.
Since 1955, Wilcox proposed classification scheme for
rating water irrigation on the basis of soluble sodium
percentage (SSP). The SSP was calculated by using the
following formulate:
+
+ + +

+ +
=
2 2
100
Na
Na
Ca Mg
SSP [8]
where,
Na
+
, Ca
2+
and Mg
2+
are solute concentrations of sodium,
calcite and magnesium in meq/L.
The values of SSP less than 50 reveal good quality of
water for irrigation whilst higher values (above 50) are
unsuitable for agriculture (USDA, 1954). The permeability
index is computed by using equation Eq. [9] below:
+
+ + +
+
+ +
=
3
2 2
\
100
HCO
Na
Na
Ca Mg
PI [9]
where, solute concentrations are expressed in meq/L.
The PI values more than 75 illustrate excellent quality of
water for irrigation, while the PI values are between 25
and 75, indicating good quality of water. However, the PI
values are less than 25, reflecting unsuitable water source
for irrigation purpose.
The results of water quality assessment of both surface
and groundwater for irrigation purpose are presented in
Table 4. It is clearly demonstrated that water quality for
irrigation practices in this area varies widely depending
on seasons and types of aquifers. About 60% of surface
water samples in the wet weather from June to December
can be used for irrigation, excepting some areas close to
the coast, while in the dry season just only 4.76% of
surface water in northwestern parts of Ke Sach, Cu Lao
Dung Island and Long Phu districts can be met irrigation.
This shows strong effects of seasonal seawater intrusion in
the coastal river system. Unlikely, groundwater quality
depends significantly on features of aquifers. Most
groundwater samples of Holocene (qh), upper Pleistocene
(qh3), some of middle and lower Pliocene (n22. n21) and
Miocene (n13) aquifers cannot use for irrigation, while
almost groundwater samples of middle and lower
Pleistocene (qp23, qp1) aquifers are good quality for both
drinking and irrigation purposes, spelling the reason for
these aquifers have been intensively pumped for those
purposes, resulting in rapid groundwater drawdown of
the large scale of the province.
Furthermore, Wilcox diagram was deployed to classify
water quality for irrigation. It can seen clearly that almost
groundwater at middle and lower Pleistocene (qp23, qp1)
aquifers and surface water in the rainy season fall in the
categories C1-S1, C2-S1 and C3-S1, while almost
groundwater of Holocene (qh), upper Pleistocene (qh3)
and surface water in the dry season were characterized by
C4-S3 and C4-S4. Remained groundwater samples of
Pliocene (n22, n21) and Miocene (n13) aquifers were
ranged between C3-S3 and C3-S4 groups.

Figure 5. Wilcox diagram of water classification for irrigation
4.4 Groundwater pollution
Figure 6 shows nitrate concentration of river and
groundwater in the dry season, Feb., 2014. The majority of
groundwater and surface water samples were
contaminated by nitrate constituent and exceeding
desirable values of nitrate concentration, 10 mg/L for
drinking water in comparison with WHO and US
drinking water standards. More seriously, high nitrate
concentration presents not only at shallow aquifers (qh,
qh3) where groundwater was intensive extracted for
shrimp farming but also at deep groundwater around Soc
Trang City. Groundwater samples from shallow and some
of deep aquifers are high nitrate concentration, ranging
from 32.86 mg/L(G3) to 256. 31 mg/L (Q59801Z ). This
can be explained by influence of wastewater and
fertilizers from agricultural practices in the province,
while nitrate sources of groundwater samples at deep
aquifer surrounding Soc Trang city may be caused by
geologic conditions (Boyce et al., 1976) and wastewater.
12.38
256.31 240.75
264.18
113.10
32.86
5.01
4.51
5.44
5.90
7.53
128.73125.67
257.29
11.40 11.17
11.98
98.24
37.36
445.49
10
1.00
10.00
100.00
1000.00
Natrite concentration of water samples, dry season2014
Q59801T Q59801Z M1 M2 M3 G3 N1
G5 G6 G7 Q598020M1 Q598030 Q59804T Q59804Z
G1 G2 G4 B1 S1-TV SW STD
Shrimp farming
Soc Trang City

Figure 6. Nitrate concentration of groundwater and surface water
in dry season, Feb.,2014

6

5. CONCLUSIONS
In coastal areas of Soc Trang province, the quality of
surface water and groundwater is seasonal variation and
influenced by geological conditions. Groundwater in Soc
Trang province is mainly characterized by Mg-Na-Ca--
HCO3 type at middle and lower Pleistocene aquifers,
while deeper aquifers are dominated by Na-HCO3-Cl
type. Groundwater of Holocene and upper Pleistocene
aquifers were grouped into heavy brackish water (Na-Cl),
indicating effects of seawater intrusion. Surface water in
this area was strongly affected by seawater intrusion in
the dry season and some parts close to the coast suffer
from salinity in the rainy season, containing high salt
concentration. More notably, some groundwater samples
of middle Pleistocene aquifer, locating at Tran De estuary
and the northwestern part of Ke Sach district have high
salinity in comparison with other samples, possibly
displayed expanding the saline boundary from
surrounding areas to these areas due to tremendous
groundwater drawdown.
The results of WQI and IWQIs reveal that fresh water
resources in coastal areas of Soc Trang province seem to
be finite to drinking and irrigation purposes. Most of
available fresh groundwater from middle and lower
Pleistocene aquifers, whereas the rest of water resources
cannot used for drinking and irrigation due to WQI and
IWQIs values exceeding acceptable values. According to
the WQI values, more than 90% of groundwater samples
of middle Pleistocene (98.15% and 90.48% of samples in
Cu Lao Dung and in Soc Trang City, respectively), 40% of
lower Pleistocene and 30% of deep aquifers present good
to excellent quality for drinking purpose, with WQI
values ranging from 22.27 to 135.97.
Meanwhile, WQI values of shallow groundwater samples
exceeding 100, and cannot be suitable for both drinking
and irrigation uses. Importantly, surface water in Soc
Trang province was significantly influenced by seawater
intrusion in the dry weather, in particularly in river and
canal systems that are close to the coast. In the dry season,
only 4.76% of surface water samples, located
northwestern parts of Soc Trang province can be used for
drinking purpose. In the wet weather, most of surface
water samples (75%) surrounding Ke Sach and Soc Trang
City can be an alternative source for drinking demand.
This is an optional choice in the context of groundwater
degradation that has been occurred in Soc Trang
province.
Irrigation water quality indexes (SAR, KR, RSC, SSP and
PI) indicate very differences of water quality between
groundwater and surface water. Interestingly, 92.59% and
57.14% of groundwater samples of middle Pleistocene
aquifer in Cu Lao Dung Island and Soc Trang areas,
respectively can be used for irrigation, while groundwater
of Holocene, upper Pleistocene and deeper aquifers
(Pliocene and Miocene) were not suitable for irrigation
purpose. More than 60% surface water in the rainy season
can be used for irrigation, whereas only 4.76% surface
water samples in the dry season can be used for that
purpose, indicating seawater intrusion strongly affects
surface water in the dry season rather than the rainy
season in this area.
Nitrate contamination also was highly detected at all
shallow aquifers and some deep groundwater samples
surrounding Soc Trang City. These samples have very
high nitrate concentration, ranging from 32.86 mg/L (G3)
to 256.31 mg/L (Q59801Z ). It is due to influences of waste
water and fertilizers from agricultural activities.
Table 4 - Results of water quality assessment for drinking and irrigation purposes
Indexes Range values
Aquifers: Shallow -> Deep aquifers River water
qh qh3
qp23
CLD
qp23
ST
qp1 n13
Dry
season
Rainy
season
WQI
Max
1665.5
2
2319.2
5
1665.5
2
135.9
7
441.1
8
895.0
0
1415.58 743.99
Mean 888.29
1413.4
0
888.29 72.00
129.2
5
254.9
3
534.93 88.77
Min 111.06 227.65 111.06 22.27 60.37 80.35 31.53 24.02
Desirable value < 100.0
Drinking Percent. A.V 0.00 0.00 98.15 90.48 40.00 30.00 4.76 75.00
SAR
Max 73.72 39.29 73.72 9.59 30.77 46.17 38.71 28.19
Mean 40.07 26.65 40.07 2.98 7.70 32.18 20.12 4.30
Min 1.77 1.57 1.77 0.48 0.77 3.42 0.62 0.37
Acceptable
value
< 26.0
KR
Max 7.32 3.84 7.32 3.90 5.79 58.55 4.07 3.47
Mean 4.55 2.42 4.55 1.11 2.37 24.31 3.25 1.29
Min 1.77 1.57 1.77 0.48 0.77 3.42 0.33 0.26
Acceptable
value
< 1.0
RSC
Max 47.47 146.30 47.47 4.34 10.82 41.11 58.42 30.90
Mean 24.58 86.69 24.58 1.44 3.52 15.74 19.24 2.58
Min 1.69 5.12 1.69 0.14 0.31 8.62 0.27 0.02
Acceptable
value
<2.5
SSP
Max 87.98 79.36 87.98 79.57 85.27 98.32 80.28 77.63
Mean 75.97 69.08 75.97 48.45 64.21 92.48 74.46 46.38
Min 63.95 61.07 63.95 32.61 43.54 77.37 24.89 20.60
Acceptable
value
<50
PI
Max 30.52 22.72 30.52 95.14 53.51 44.63 57.81 91.60
Mean 25.59 17.56 25.59 43.44 36.30 35.12 23.69 54.68
Min 20.66 15.02 20.66 23.44 21.51 18.35 18.39 18.83
Acceptable
value
>25
Irrigation Percent. A.V 0.00 0.00 92.59 57.14 0.00 0.00 4.76 60.00
7
Groundwater quality in Soc Trang province should be
concerned in terms of increasing seawater intrusion both
directly from East Sea and saline diffusion as well as
nitrate pollution in somewhere. It is concluded that
groundwater quality deterioration in Soc Trang province
was driven from many intricate factors, including: (i)
inappropriate environmental management in the delta,
leading to water pollution; (ii) over extraction inducing
seawater intrusion and mixing contaminants and (iii) poor
wells construction and lack of sustainable exploitation
and effective management, which create a direct pathway
for exacerbating water quality of aquifers and seeping
pollutants from surface to good quality groundwater
layers.
Therefore, an integrated management practices of water
resources is urgently needed for sustainable use.
Particularly, an appropriate management practices and
regulation on groundwater extraction should be carefully
considered in coastal areas which have were strongly
affected by salt intrusion, wastewater of households,
industrial and agricultural activities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to express their gratefulness to
Prof. Maki Tsujimura, Chair of Doctoral Program in
Sustainable Environmental Studies, Faculty of Life and
Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba for
providing necessary facilities for this research. We also
would like to thank Department of Natural Resources and
Environment, Center for Rural Water Supply and
Sanitation of Soc Trang Province, especially Mr. Dong
Thong Nhat, Mr. Nguyen Van Chanh, Mr. Lam Huynh
Kien and Mr. Thach Hoang Linh for their support during
the field surveys between 2013 and 2014. Our
thankfulness also is extended to Dr. Bui Tran Vuong, Vice
Director of Division for Water Resources and Planning for
South of Vietnam, and Mr. Hoang Dai Phuc, a hydro-
geological specialist at Improvement of Groundwater
Protection projects in Vientam for their kind support and
providing relevant data to this study. Particularly, we
would like to address special thanks to Japanese Grant
Aid for Human Resources Development Scholarship (JDS
program) for completing this study fruitfully.


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