Undated photo shows river terns flying in a Mekong flooded forest area. (Eam Sam Un/WWF-Cambodia/Handout via Xinhua)

 
Saltwater intrusion in Vietnam's Mekong Delta is forecast to come early this year, Vietnam News reported Thursday.

Localities in the region are preparing plans to ensure adequate water for the winter-spring rice harvest and reduce the damage inflicted by drought and salinity, according to the report.

The rainy season this year is predicted to have remained in the delta only in the previous and the current months, concluding midway through next month.

The early end of the rainy season leads to anticipated water shortage in local farming areas.

Throughout the dry spell of this year and the next, the intrusion of saltwater is expected to appear a month sooner than the multi-year average, commencing in mid to late December.

According to the Southern Institute of Water Resources Research, the total rainfall this year is forecast to be about 1,350 mm, only 1 percent higher than 2015, which saw severe drought, and about 13 percent lower than the average of many years.

Vietnam's Mekong Delta region, which comprises 12 provinces and Can Tho City, is normally affected by saltwater intrusion from the sea during the dry season which lasts from December to April.

In the severely dry season from 2015 to 2016, saltwater intrusion and drought caused the loss of 1 million tons of paddy in the delta, and 500,000 households in the delta suffered a shortage of daily use water.