According to the Department of Irrigation, in the medium-term public investment plan for the period from 2021 to 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has allocated VND 3,800 billion to repair and upgrade 30 dams and irrigation reservoirs.
Thousands of reservoirs damaged and degraded
Vietnam is one of the countries directly and heavily affected by natural disasters, climate change, rain, storms, floods. If irrigation reservoirs are not safe, when an incident occurs, it will cause damage to the lives and property of the State and people.
Deputy Director of the Department of Irrigation Nguyen Hong Khanh said: “The whole country has 6,750 irrigation reservoirs with a storage capacity of 50,000 m3 or a dam height of 5m or more. According to statistics in 45 localities, there are currently 1,159 reservoirs that are damaged or degraded, of which 338 irrigation reservoirs are severely damaged, 555 are moderately damaged and 266 are slightly damaged. Localities with many damaged or degraded irrigation reservoirs include: Thanh Hoa with 56 reservoirs, Tuyen Quang with 57 reservoirs, Thai Nguyen with 72 reservoirs, Phu Tho with 63 reservoirs, Hoa Binh with 81 reservoirs, Nghe An with 69 reservoirs, etc.
Huong Khe is the locality with the largest number of lakes and dams in Ha Tinh province, but most of them were built many years ago in unsynchronized technical conditions; the management, exploitation and operation process is often affected by natural disasters, so many works are damaged and degraded, some works are at risk of being unsafe and have to limit water storage.
According to Nguyen Tri Dong, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Huong Khe District: "After reviewing, the district currently has 25 damaged and degraded lakes and dams, of which 12 are at high risk of unsafety and need to be repaired and upgraded, but funding has not been allocated. Degraded irrigation works not only affect the supply of water for irrigation and drought prevention, but also pose a potential safety risk to people in downstream areas."
In addition to the lakes and dams managed by the locality, through research we learned that in recent years, a series of lakes and dams in Huong Khe district managed and operated by Nam Ha Tinh Irrigation Company Limited have been degraded but have not been treated, such as: Trang Dam Lake, Huong Thuy Commune, Nuoc Do Lake, Loc Yen Commune, Cha Cham Lake, Gia Pho Commune... In which, Muc Bai Lake in Huong Xuan Commune is responsible for providing irrigation and drainage water for 50 hectares of production and living land for thousands of households in the area.
Chairman of the Board of Members of Nam Ha Tinh Irrigation Company Limited, Tran Duy Chien, said: “Muc Bai Reservoir was built more than 20 years ago, so the current state of the dam body is weak, and there is seepage after the culvert at the foot of the dam. In addition, the reservoir basin is large, the spillway aperture is narrow, and flood discharge is slow. Every time there is heavy rain, a large amount of water flows in, making it difficult to protect the reservoir. Currently, the body of Muc Bai Reservoir shows signs of strong seepage. On the downstream slope of the main dam, there are some landslides forming a slide; on the downstream foot of the culvert below the dam, the water seeps into a stream, causing mud. In particular, the upstream part reinforced with dry paving stones has degraded and is no longer capable of protecting the dam slope.”
Proactively handle incidents promptly
Deputy Director of the Department of Irrigation Nguyen Hong Khanh said: “One of the reasons leading to the above situation is that many irrigation works, including irrigation reservoirs, have been invested in for a long time, and are mainly constructed manually, using earth dams. Many works do not have spillways and lack flood discharge capacity. During operation and exploitation, there is not enough funding for maintenance, repair, and upgrading, which always poses a potential risk of insecurity.”
Discussing this issue, Head of the Irrigation Department of Ha Tinh province, Tran Duc Thinh, said: “The whole province currently has 348 irrigation reservoirs managed and exploited by enterprises and basic irrigation blocks... Every year, these projects ensure water supply for about 55,000 hectares of winter-spring rice production area, 44,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice production and more than 14,000 hectares of vegetables, 2,800 hectares of aquaculture and play a role in cutting and reducing floods in downstream areas, improving the ecological environment. However, most of the reservoirs in Ha Tinh province were built 40 to 50 years ago, at that time, construction conditions and means were lacking and weak, mainly manual and manual combined with mechanical; hydrological data and measurement documents were not complete, the process of preparing project documents and technical designs did not fully mention the adverse cases of natural disasters. In addition, many lakes and dams have been used for a long time and lack funds for maintenance and upkeep, so up to now, the whole province has more than 130 dams and reservoirs that are damaged and degraded and need to be upgraded and repaired. Of these, the risk of insecurity exists at 49 dams and reservoirs due to severe damage, requiring timely repair and remediation plans.
According to the Ha Tinh Province Irrigation Department, in recent years, climate change has become increasingly extreme and unusual, with rain and floods exceeding normal patterns. At the same time, hot weather with high and prolonged temperatures that lower groundwater levels are also among the causes of unsafe reservoirs. Meanwhile, the number of degraded irrigation works that do not ensure safety is high, investment funds for repairs and upgrades are limited, and capital allocated to invested and constructed projects is lacking.
In addition, the equipment and management means are not commensurate with the scale and assigned tasks, and many projects have lost their records. The implementation of some tasks according to the law on irrigation still faces many financial difficulties such as: Developing emergency response plans, emergency response plans must have flood maps attached; marking the protection corridor of irrigation works; installing monitoring equipment for dams and reservoirs, etc.
Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Huong Khe District (Ha Tinh) Phan Ky said: "Although the locality has many damaged and degraded reservoirs and dams that need to be upgraded and repaired. However, the local budget is currently limited, so it is very difficult to balance and allocate resources to handle incidents as well as invest in the synchronous construction of the reservoir and dam system. Therefore, in the coming time, we propose that the Provincial People's Committee submit to the Government and ministries and branches to consider supporting investment funding for severely damaged and degraded reservoirs and dams. Notably, in the district, there are 9 reservoirs under the Dam Safety Improvement and Repair Project (WB8) whose feasibility study reports have been approved by the Provincial People's Committee. In the immediate future, the district hopes that Ha Tinh province will support funding to repair Khe Coi dam (Ha Linh commune) and Cha Cham lake (Gia Pho commune) before the rainy and flood season in 2024".
To ensure the safety of irrigation reservoirs during the rainy, stormy and flood season this year, localities need to organize a comprehensive inspection of irrigation reservoirs, especially severely damaged reservoirs, to proactively develop, approve and implement plans to ensure the safety of works according to the "four on-site" motto; organize test operations of sluice gates and equipment serving flood discharge of reservoirs and arrange sufficient spare materials and equipment to ensure timely repair and replacement in case of operational incidents; strengthen urging, inspection and guidance of relevant organizations and individuals to comply with legal provisions on dam safety as prescribed.
Including completing dam safety registration; establishing and implementing plans to respond to natural disasters and emergencies; assessing the safety of irrigation reservoirs to promptly detect unusual signs for timely handling; proactively handling potential hazards on the dam roof and dam body such as: clearing vegetation, termite nests, removing obstacles on the spillway... ensuring absolute safety for the project...
Source: https://nhandan.vn/bao-dam-an-toan-ho-chua-nuoc-thuy-loi-post817110.html
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