Insecurity at the foot of Chau Thang Hydropower Plant

Risk of slipping down the river

For many years, Mr. Tran Dinh Quang's family in Minh Tien village, Chau Tien commune (Quy Chau) has been startled and worried every time they heard the news that Chau Thang Hydropower Plant was releasing floodwaters. Because each time, his garden became even narrower, because the Hieu River swallowed it. Pointing to the back of his house, Mr. Quang said that the area used to be a garden for growing bananas, elephant grass, and barns. However, since 2017, after the hydropower plant stored water and released floodwaters, the garden has also disappeared because the river has eaten away many meters.

Mr. Quang's household is one of 22 households in Minh Tien village that have been seriously affected since the Chau Thang Hydropower Plant came into operation, even threatening their lives and property. Every time there is heavy rain and the hydropower plant releases floodwaters, these households have to panic and flee to safety. "Heavy rain combined with the hydropower plant releasing floodwaters causes the water to rise, flow rapidly, and the floodwaters last longer than before, so the soil is soaked with water for a long time, becomes loose, and collapses," said Mr. Quang.

About 3 km upstream of the Hieu River from this 22-household area is the Chau Thang Hydropower Plant. This hydropower plant has a designed capacity of 14MW, built in the areas of Quy Chau and Que Phong districts, of which the factory area is located in Quy Chau district. The plant has a reservoir with a length of more than 10 km, an average width of 200m, and a reservoir capacity of 18 million m3. Chau Thang Hydropower Plant started storing water in February 2017; generating electricity in May 2017... On average, each year, the plant pays taxes to the State about 6.5 billion VND.

Chau Thang Hydroelectric Dam. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Similar to Mr. Quang, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Luc and her husband said that their family has lived here for decades. In 2018, heavy rain forced Chau Thang Hydropower Plant to release floodwaters, causing serious landslides. “The hydropower plant released all 6 gates. At night, we heard the flood water rumbling, and in the morning, many beds and wooden cabinets that the family bought to resell and were stored in the warehouse behind were swept away by the flood,” Mrs. Luc said. After the flood receded, Hieu River “ate” about 20m, close to the back wall of the house.

According to Ms. Luc, before the hydropower plant was built, the river water still rose and flowed strongly, but it was not as fast and created strong waves as after the hydropower plant was built. "They released the flood too strongly, so the water flowed and created waves that crashed into our residential area, causing landslides," Ms. Luc said. In 2019, the investor of Chau Thang Hydropower Plant supported Ms. Luc's family with 100 million VND to fix the landslide. "I had to spend another 40 million VND to hire a truck to transport soil to fill the land to compensate for the amount of soil that was washed away by the water. But I am still worried every time there is a flood, because if the hydropower plant continues to release flood water like that year, the land will flow again," Ms. Luc said. Meanwhile, Mr. Nham was also supported by the owner of this hydropower plant with money to buy soil and rocks to fill the land, and although there have been no large floods in the past 2 years, nearly half of the soil and rocks have been washed away by the water.

Next to Mrs. Luc's house, Mr. Phan Van Nham's family is also in a similar situation. Pointing to two bamboo bushes with bare roots lying on the riverbank, Mr. Nham said that these two bamboo bushes used to be located high up in the middle of his garden. The floodwaters rushed in and rose high due to the hydroelectric plant's discharge, pushing the two bamboo bushes away from their original position by about 10m. Not far away, Mr. Phan Huy Ngoc's family is also worried that their house will be swept away at any time. Mr. Ngoc said that after the floods, the house's foundation, foundation, and tiled floor were all cracked. His family's two wooden houses were tilted and had to be supported. In 2019, the investor of Chau Thang Hydroelectric Plant sent people down to check the damage and supported him with 100 million VND. He hired someone to repair the house, but his family's life is still not stable.

Many people's gardens and outbuildings have been washed away into the Hieu River. Photo: Tien Hung

Waiting for the embankment to be built

According to a report by the Nghe An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the landslide in Minh Tien village occurred with a length of about 1,000m, directly affecting the safety of life and property of 22 households. Many bamboo bushes and outbuildings of the people were swept into the river, and the walls of people's houses were cracked. The cause of the landslide, the report stated, was the impact of the hydroelectric dam releasing floodwaters, causing prolonged flooding, creating large waves that caused the riverside land to erode.

According to local people, even in the historic floods of 1988 and 2007, the water level of the Hieu River rose to its highest point and flooded the road surface, but there were no landslides along the river. In the past 2 years when the hydroelectric plant was in operation, more than 20 houses living along the river, some were "swallowed" by the river 10m, some families lost up to 15m of land. Many gardens and livestock pens were swept away into the river.

Landslides are getting more and more serious. Photo: Hung Cuong

Recently, the People's Committee of Quy Chau district mobilized businesses to support Mr. Phan Huy Ngoc's family to move their house to a new place. However, Mr. Ngoc did not agree because he found it unsatisfactory. "The landslide was not caused by natural phenomena or weather but by the hydroelectric dam releasing flood water, so we do not agree with this type of support," Mr. Ngoc said.

Mr. Sam Thanh Hoai - Chairman of Chau Tien Commune People's Committee said that the landslides threaten dozens of households. However, the commune's budget is not enough to build a dike to protect the villagers. "We have proposed building a dike for a long time but have not seen it yet," Mr. Hoai said.

In 2019, when the landslide situation was serious, talking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters at that time, Mr. Ho Ngoc Thiet - Director of Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company said that the company had been actively cooperating with authorities at all levels to request funding to build a soft embankment system to prevent riverbank landslides. However, after 3 years, the embankment to protect 22 households has not been seen yet.

Discussing this issue, the leader of Quy Chau district said that to fully assign responsibility to Chau Thang Hydropower Plant, there must be an assessment and conclusion from a professional agency, but this has not been done yet. To ensure the safety of these households, the district has proposed that Nghe An province allocate funds to build an anti-erosion embankment with a budget of tens of billions of VND and is still waiting for approval.