At this time, many reservoirs in the province have run out of water, so the rapid implementation of response solutions is being urgently implemented by the provincial agricultural sector and Binh Thuan Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited and localities, in order of priority: domestic water, livestock, and agricultural production.
Water shortage
According to Binh Thuan Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited, due to the impact of El Nino, this year's rainy season ended early, the water situation in the province is unfavorable, affecting the water supply for people's daily life and production. As of March 23, 2024, the current useful water volume of irrigation reservoirs is 116/364 million m3, reaching 31.9% of the design, 38.85 million m3 lower than the same period. In particular, some large lakes such as Song Luy have a current useful capacity of 17.85 million m3, reaching 18.6% of the design capacity; Da Bac Lake 3.21 million m3, reaching 39.2%... Facing prolonged drought, up to this point, it has been recorded that 365 hectares of crops have been damaged, mainly dragon fruit and vegetables in Ham Thuan Nam. In addition, the dragon fruit area at risk of damage due to drought and water shortage is 1,175 hectares in Ham Tan, La Gi town...
Notably, currently, a number of reservoirs and irrigation works in Ham Thuan Nam district have run out of water, including Ta Mon reservoir, which is irrigating beyond its designed area and has no additional water source from other sources, so every year the lake runs out of water by the end of March. Especially in 2024, the rainy season ended early, so in November 2023, Ta Mon reservoir opened water to irrigate dragon fruit trees. Currently, it has opened water to irrigate for 7 irrigation sessions and the last irrigation session ended on March 2, 2024 because the lake ran out of water.
Faced with this situation, the Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited - Ham Thuan Nam Branch has requested the People's Committee of Tan Lap Commune to propagate and mobilize people not to light up dragon fruit out of season and to have solutions for economical irrigation, expand ponds, drill wells, build temporary dams on streams to store water sources to ensure production. Another project is Ba Bau reservoir, which is opening water to serve irrigation for 2 canals, including the East main canal, which is expected to end the irrigation session on March 30, and the North main canal, which is expected to end the irrigation session on April 4. This is also the last irrigation session of the 2 canals, so people need to proactively have solutions to store water sources.
Solving difficulties, prioritizing domestic water
Mr. Ho Dac Nghia - Deputy General Director of the Provincial Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited said that the current difficulties and problems are that most of the irrigation canals and water supply canals in the province are earthen canals, which are not yet solidified, resulting in large water losses. On the other hand, earthen canals often have landslides, silting up the canal bed, obstructing the flow, and dredging of intra-field canals in some localities has not yet received attention. In particular, reservoirs such as Tan Lap, Ta Mon, Tan Ha, Song Dinh Forestry, Song Khan are small in scale, so their ability to store water is not much... Besides these difficulties, the reality shows that in some areas, people are not aware of protecting irrigation works, often violating and encroaching on the protection corridor of the works such as blocking water under the canal bed, breaking the canal to get water, throwing garbage into the canal bed, obstructing the flow and polluting the environment...
So what should be done to overcome the drought and water shortage when many reservoirs are dry? The provincial agricultural sector leaders said that at this time, localities need to dredge intra-field canals. On the other hand, it is necessary to inform people about the possibility of drought and water shortage to raise awareness of using water economically, properly, and for the right purpose.
Notably, during the inspection trip to prevent and combat drought and water shortage in Binh Thuan last weekend, Mr. Nguyen Hong Khanh - Deputy Director of the Department of Irrigation (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) and the working delegation, after grasping the situation and going to the field in some arid areas in the province, reminded the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Thuan to plan a suitable water supply. In particular, priority should be given to providing domestic water and ensuring irrigation water for rice production until June 2024...
Faced with the possibility of a prolonged drought, the Provincial Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited said that the company's water supply plan for the remaining dry season of 2024 is to continue managing water resources, reasonably regulating water to irrigate 23,910 hectares of winter-spring rice, 19,330 hectares of dragon fruit and 411 hectares of aquaculture. Regarding water supply for domestic use, it will continue to supply water to water plants with a plan of 8,220,000 m³/month.
Source
Comment (0)