Abstract: Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta
is in the top ten areas affected by climate change. Therefore, assessing
climate change impacts, social and economic activities require proposed
solutions to respond to climate change. This study aims to (i) apply the MIKE
11 model (Hydrodynamic module and Advection–Dispersion module) to simulate the
impacts of climate change scenarios on water resources in Can Tho city; (ii)
calculate water balance in Can Tho city; and (iii) suggest climate change adaptation
plan for sustainable social-economic activities of the city. The results show
that when the rainfall changes due to climate change, the flow rate tends to
decrease at high tide and increase at low tide. When the sea level rises due to
climate change, the flow rate tends to increase at high tide and decrease at
low tide. For 2030, the flow will decrease up to 15.6% and 14.3% at the low
tide period for RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5 compared to the present, respectively. The
flow will increase up to 63.5% and 58.9% at the high tide period for RCP 2.6
and RCP 8.5 compared to the present, respectively. The water demand evaluation
shows that the water resource reserve in Can Tho city meets water demands in
current and future scenarios under climate change. While rainwater and
groundwater can provide enough water in the rainy season, the city has to use
surface water during the dry season due to a lack of rainwater. Of these,
agriculture contributes the most water demands (85%). Eight adaptation measures
to climate change for Can Tho city are developed from 2021 to 2050.