Tri An Lake will be dredged

Faced with the situation of Tri An Lake drying up, especially in the semi-flooded area of hundreds of hectares, Dong Nai province is calculating a dredging plan to increase water storage capacity.

The study of the dredging plan for the semi-submerged area of Tri An Lake was assigned by the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee to the Department of Construction and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on May 19. The purpose is to increase water storage capacity, serve electricity production, agriculture and provide domestic water for the downstream area.

In addition, the dredging process is expected to help provide landfill materials for traffic and construction infrastructure projects in the province and region.

The dredging is expected to focus mainly on the semi-submerged areas through Dinh Quan and Vinh Cuu districts, two areas that often experience drought during the dry season. This will be the first time Tri An Lake has been dredged.

Tri Can Lake dried up in early May. Photo: Phuoc Tuan — Tri An Lake dried up on May 12. Photo: *Phuoc Tuan*

Tri An Hydropower Reservoir covers an area of about 32,000 hectares, located in 4 districts: Dinh Quan, Thong Nhat, Trang Bom and Vinh Cuu, with a capacity of about 2.7 billion m3 of water. In addition to serving electricity production, the project also has many other functions. Among them is regulating water downstream for clean water production plants to serve the daily life and production of nearly 12 million people in Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City.

Recently, the prolonged dry season has caused the lake water level to drop to its lowest level in 12 years, close to the dead water level (50 m). The semi-flooded area in the Dong Nai and La Nga rivers flowing into the lake has exposed, cracked bottoms, with only small streams remaining. An area of hundreds of hectares is like a barren plain.

Tri An Hydropower Plant was built in 1984, inaugurated and put into use in 1991. This is the largest hydropower project in the South with 4 turbines, total designed capacity of 400 MW. Together with Dong Nai Cultural Nature Reserve and Nam Cat Tien National Forest, Tri An Inland Water Reserve forms the Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve.

Phuoc Tuan

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