no. 188 (1996)

Groundwater contamination is an important environmental problem in the Mekong plain. The groundwater in the plain is almost fossil , that is to say it is buried under marine deposits (not connate), lying in lens or wedge-shaped aquifers, surrounded by saline groundwater. The abstraction of the freshwater leads to the saline water moving gradually to form a saline tongue under the freshwater abstraction wells. The traditional manner to manage this phenomenon is to look for other sources of freshwater. However, there is also a cheaper more effective method, of removing the saline tongue from the abstraction system, by using additional abstraction wells, called anti-contamination wells, which are located in the saline tongue.