Site selection for a MAR pilot in Hau Giang province

In the Partners for Water project “ASR application for Domestic Fresh Water Supply in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta”, the ambition is to build an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) pilot location in Hau Giang. This report describes the site selection process for four pre-selected premises identified by Hawasuco. While the demand for ASR is highest at the Cai Tac and Long Thanh sites, both lack the prerequisite of surplus treated water that could be used for aquifer recharge. Therefore, these sites are not suitable. The selected pilot site in Nga Bay meets this prerequisite, as additional treatment capacity is available there. Although current demand for ASR at the site is limited, this may change in the mid to long term, as saline intrusion into surface water is advancing further into the delta, mainly due to relative sea level rise and riverbed incision caused by sand mining. In addition, the Nga Bay site offers sufficient space to drill additional monitoring and ASR wells. The qp1 aquifer has a thickness of at least 20 metres, and the site includes two back-up wells that can be used for monitoring.