Reducing river inundation in the Hau River estuary

Abstract

The Mekong Delta is facing some complicated challenges in the near future. Its geographical location and the fact that it is a delta result in low elevation levels which makes it vulnerable to inundation. This problem will only become bigger in the future due to the effects of climate change. To get funding from organisations like the world bank it is important to propose multiple solutions that are beneficial to multiple parts of society. It is favourable to split
a complex system like the Mekong Delta into subsystems to make it more feasible to build realistic models. The subsystem defined in this report is the Hau River estuary. This area mainly suffers from riverine inundation caused by tidal variation in the South Chinese Sea. The biggest city in the region is Can Tho with 1.3 million inhabitants.

The research question is: Which integrated solutions reduce riverine inundation problems in the Hau River estuary while also considering socio-economical aspects? To answer this research question the following four solutions are proposed and designed.

• Discharge sluice in the mouth of the Hau River to reduce the tidal influence

• Wetland with a double levee system and buffer zones to reduce peak discharge

• Bypass channel to the Gulf of Thailand to reduce discharge during the wet season

• Protection of valuable assets and adaptation of local citizens to the new natural balance

Based on desired discharges and water levels preliminary design parameters of the proposed hydraulic structures were determined. The effectiveness of these solutions was assessed based on their ability to reduce the water level in Can Tho. The reduction that the discharge sluice achieved was determined with a zero-dimensional model, whereas the water level reduction that the wetlands and bypass option achieved were determined by Delft3D models. The discharge sluice performed best in reducing the water level in Can Tho, as it opposes the tidal influence in the Hau River.

To assess the quality of the solutions relative to each other a best-worst multi-criteria analysis is done. In this assessment other factors such as financial aspects, socio-economics and transportation are taken into account. The most important criteria are flood reduction and funding opportunities. According to the assessed criteria, the discharge sluice and the wetland are the best-scoring solutions. These solutions have the most potential in reducing the river inundation problems in the Hau River estuary. This does not mean that the bypass and adaptation solutions should be neglected or are not useful. For a complex problem in a complex system like the Hau River estuary, one solution is not going to solve all the problems. A good balance between different aspects has to be determined by also considering other problems like sand mining, subsidence and salt intrusion.