In Mường Mùn, the lack of domestic water has become a recurring story every hot season. For semi-boarding schools, where hundreds of students live and eat together, this anxiety is clearly visible in every meal and daily activity. At the handwashing area behind the semi-boarding building, at the end of class, students stand in line holding plastic buckets, waiting for weak streams of water trickling from a fully turned-on tap. Some bend down low, collecting every drop of water from the tank to wash their hands, feet, and clothes.

Lò Minh Hiếu, a student from class 5A3 at Mùn Chung Primary Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding School, shared that during the dry season at school, they frequently lack water to wash their hands and feet and perform personal hygiene.

In the 2025 - 2026 academic year, Mùn Chung Primary Ethnic Minority Semi-Boarding School has 32 officials and teachers along with 417 students, with the central campus alone housing 356 students, including 186 semi-boarding students. The school’s domestic water source is mainly channeled from mountain streams and natural water springs. While it is sufficient during the rainy season, water dries up quickly during peak heatwaves, leaving storage tanks empty on many days. On water-scarce days, the school prioritizes drinking and cooking water for the semi-boarding area, while students’ bathing, laundry, and personal hygiene must be minimized to save water.

To overcome the immediate shortage of domestic water, the school has asked for water from households nearby. The amount of water is not large but is enough to maintain minimal daily activities for semi-boarding students during peak shortage days. For teachers and students here, every bucket of water at this time is extremely precious.

Principal of the school Đào Kim Oanh noted that during the hot season, the school completely runs out of water, forcing them to contact nearby households to ask for water support while writing letters to call for socialization. Currently, the school has mobilized funding support for well drilling and is in the process of finding a water source, which, if stabilized, will significantly alleviate the difficulties for both teachers and students.

At Mường Mùn Kindergarten, ensuring domestic water for teachers and children is more proactive thanks to the socialization of a drilled well and a reverse osmosis (RO) water filtration system. Principal of the school Nguyễn Thị Thắm shared that the school currently has a drilled well that basically meets the daily needs of 385 students and 37 officials and teachers. In addition, the school receives support for an RO water filtration system to provide drinking water, and having a stable water source makes caring for and nurturing the children much more favorable.

The entire Mường Mùn commune currently has 10 schools with 45 school sites, housing over 4,400 students of all levels, including around 2,350 semi-boarding students. This dry season, water shortages occurred locally at three schools, directly impacting 144 teachers and nearly 2,000 students. At highland village sites, the lack of domestic water places pressure on caring for semi-boarding students, cleaning classrooms, and preventing diseases. Many school sites depend entirely on natural stream water sources, making it very difficult to find alternative sources when prolonged droughts strike.

Chairman of the Mường Mùn commune People’s Committee Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng stated that the locality is currently implementing multiple solutions to reduce the pressure of water scarcity at schools. Among them, priority is given to repairing pipeline systems, proactively storing water from the beginning of the dry season, and mobilizing socialized resources to drill wells at school sites with severe shortages, while disseminating to teachers, students, and residents to use water economically and effectively.

Similar to Mường Mùn commune, the lack of domestic water remains a constant worry for many highland villages in Chiềng Sinh commune whenever the dry season arrives. Chiềng Sinh commune has 28 villages, where the domestic water source for residents and schools mainly relies on gravity-fed water systems and natural streams. In the dry season, many households have to wake up early in the morning to go down to streams to carry canisters of water for daily use.

Through reviews, many domestic water works in Chiềng Sinh commune that were invested in long ago have degraded. Some pipeline sections are damaged, leading to water loss and causing flow rates to drop sharply during the dry season. In Hua Sát, Huổi Nôm, Khong Tở, Co Đứa, Muông, Yên, Hốc Chứn, and Thẳm Xả villages, many households have to travel far to fetch water or use water from streams. Several schools face difficulties with domestic water sources in the dry season, including Chiềng Sinh Primary School, Chiềng Sinh Kindergarten, Nà Sáy Primary and Secondary School, and Khong Hin Primary School.

Facing the reality of domestic water shortages, the Chiềng Sinh commune government has implemented various remedial solutions. In addition to reviewing and repairing damaged pipelines, the commune mobilizes residents to protect water sources, store water, and proactively renovate household water supply systems. Funded by a sponsorship of over VND 5.1 billion from the Vietnam Health, Culture, and Education-VNHELP Foundation, since early April 2026, residents of five villages, including Khong Nưa, Phai Mướng, Phiêng Hin, Thín A, and Thín B, have deployed the construction of five gravity-fed water supply systems to serve 100% of the households in the villages. Many organizations and benefactors have also supported drilling wells for local schools. In the first five months of 2026 alone, four drilled wells were completed at schools and school sites with a total cost of over VND 200 million. Currently, the entire commune has received support for drilling 19 wells for schools with a total cost of over VND 700 million.

Chairman of the Chiềng Sinh commune People’s Committee Đỗ Văn Sơn stated that in the coming time, the commune will continue to review all degraded domestic water works to propose synchronized repair investments, prioritizing highland villages that frequently face water scarcity. Concurrently, the locality will step up socialization, mobilize the community to participate in the maintenance and upkeep of domestic water supply works, and disseminate to residents to enhance the protection of upstream water sources and use water economically and effectively.