Northern Irrigation System - Water regulation against drought in downstream areas
(Baonghean) -The Lam River water source is low and often unstable, especially during the rice-growing period. Not to mention that the reservoir system in the four key rice-growing districts of Do Luong, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, and Quynh Luu has not yet reached its designed capacity. Many localities have experienced a shortage of water for rice irrigation in the reservoir and canal areas.
Ve Vung Reservoir (Dong Thanh - Yen Thanh) has a fairly large capacity, but the water level has dropped to an alarming level. Mr. Cao Xuan Toan - a worker operating Ve Vung Reservoir said: This reservoir has a capacity of over 16 million m3 of water, irrigating over 700 hectares of rice in the communes of Hoa Thanh, Van Thanh, Phuc Thanh, Hau Thanh... However, up to this point, the reservoir only has 50% of its water volume left. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly implement the approved operating schedule of Yen Thanh Irrigation Enterprise: rotating the water opening every 5-6 days/15 days, saving water in the reservoir to serve the summer-autumn rice crop. The group of 4 workers actively pushes water from the main canal to the localities every day, avoiding the situation where communes compete for water. The current difficulty is that many sections of the Ve Vung system's canals have not been solidified, so the water loss rate is still quite high.
Ve Vung - Yen Thanh Lake water level drops alarmingly.
Ms. Pham Hoa in Dong Hoa hamlet, Dong Thanh commune, is repairing the rice field banks. She confided: My family has 9 sao of rice fields. Every day, we have to check and fix any leaks in the rice field banks to prevent water loss. Currently, 4 sao of rice fields are lacking water. If it doesn't rain and the reservoir dries up, the risk of crop failure due to drought is very high.
The main canal system of Ve Vung reservoir flows to the branch canals, where irrigation teams are on duty day and night to force water into the fields. Mr. Cao Xuan Huong - Head of Dong Hoa hamlet, who is running the irrigation team to get water, said: The team has 4 people, and during the current stressful period, they have to be on duty day and night to direct water into each field.
The irrigation team also has the task of checking and handling leaks in the bank of the field to avoid wasting water. The hamlet currently has nearly 70 hectares of rice, of which over 50 hectares have stable water sources, the rest are at the end of the source, so it is very difficult to bring water to the fields.
Mr. Nguyen Cong Ly - Vice Chairman of Dong Thanh Commune People's Committee added: The whole Dong Thanh commune has 356 hectares of rice, over 60% of which use water from Ve Vung reservoir. To ensure water for spring rice irrigation, the commune has mobilized forces to dredge and clear branch canals in the fields of Dong Hoa, Dong Trung, Dong Tro... with thousands of cubic meters of mud and soil. In addition, the irrigation teams operating to take water from the main canal of Ve Vung reservoir strictly follow the schedule of water collection, not competing for water. The difficulty of the commune is that there are 3 small dams managed by the locality in the 2012 flood season, all of which had broken dam bodies, and have not been repaired yet, so they cannot reserve water to irrigate over 70 hectares. In hot weather, the commune will proactively use field oil pumps to pump water from ponds, streams and dead-end rivers to rescue the above rice area.
Vuc Mau Reservoir serves over 2,300 hectares of rice in the communes of Quynh Van, Quynh Giang, Quynh My, Quynh Hoa... and the water level has also decreased by about 7-8 million m3 of water. The areas at the end of the canal have experienced water shortages. Quynh Luu Irrigation Enterprise has collaborated with over 2,000 students of Hoang Mai High School to dredge over 700 m3 of mud and soil on the Vuc Mau canal, creating ventilation for the canal bed.
At this time, in Quynh Hoa commune, at the end of Vuc Mau reservoir, many field oil pumps are simultaneously deployed to pump. Mr. Nguyen Quan is using an oil pump in Tay Con Ngang field, expressing: His family grows 6 sao of rice, but at this time, due to the weak water flow from Vuc Mau reservoir, they have to use field oil pumps to pump more. Each pumping session lasts 2-3 days, costing about 3-4 hundred thousand VND for oil, the people are hoping that the State will support more funds to pump oil.
Mr. Phan Thanh Ky - Chairman of Quynh Hoa Commune People's Committee added: The whole commune has over 500 hectares of rice, of which 250 hectares use the water source of Vuc Mau Lake, the rest use the main canal system of Do Luong. The current difficulty is that the Vuc Mau water canal system is mainly earthen canals, so there is still a lot of water loss. The N17 Do Luong canal system is located at the end of the source, so it is difficult to bring water to the rice fields. During hot weather, water from Vuc Mau and water from the N17 canal must be discharged to the Binh Son and Son Ha drainage canals, blocked, and then 6 field pumps must be used to pump back up to the rice. Currently, the people of the whole commune are deploying over 200 oil pumps with a capacity of 6-8 horsepower to pump to the areas at the end of the canal to ensure the rice heads to flower.
It is known that in Quynh Luu area, Ba Tuy and Khe Than reservoirs... water reserves have decreased, Quynh Luu Irrigation Enterprise has increased the number of electric pumping stations to pump 24/24 hours, added dozens of large-capacity field oil pumps to pump water from Do Luong canal to rice fields in the lake areas, saving water in the reservoir for the rice-growing period and the summer-autumn crop. Quynh Luu also focused on solidifying newly constructed canals such as building new tails of canals B10, N17 B, canals 13-11...
Mr. Le Van Cuong - Deputy Director of Bac Irrigation Company Limited said: This spring crop, the company was assigned to irrigate over 27,000 hectares of rice for 4 districts of Do Luong, Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau. Currently, the company has 17 large and small reservoirs that do not meet the water reserve, the Do Luong bara self-flowing water system has a water level of only 9.95m-10.0 (design water level +10.25m), so water supply is very difficult. The company has coordinated with localities since the beginning of the crop to organize dredging and clearing 54 canals in 3 phases with a volume of over 250,000m3 of mud and soil; has reinforced 16 weak canals, worth over 16 billion VND.
In particular, the main canal section from K0 to K1+450 (Do Luong self-flowing system) is often silted with mud and sand, obstructing the flow. The company has deployed a dredger to dredge 36,000m3 of silted mud, clearing the entrance to the main canal, with a total cost of over 7 billion VND. For the Yen Thanh area, there is a possibility of drought on over 900 hectares, of which 346 hectares will be pumped to support, using 19 electric pumping stations, oil pumps to pump to support irrigation areas such as the main canal of Quan Hai reservoir, 92 hectares (pumping from Nha Dac drainage canal, Ve Vung reservoir main canal (pumping from Dinh river) ...
For Dien Chau, the area threatened by water shortage is 1,123 hectares, of which the pumping support area is 552 hectares. The district has arranged 27 electric pumping stations, oil pumping stations to support irrigation areas such as: the N20 canal tail of nearly 100 hectares in Dien My pumping from Nha Le canal, the N22 B canal tail of over 50 hectares in Hoang Phu pumping from Son Tinh drainage canal... For Quynh Luu district, the water shortage threatens 1,064 hectares, of which the pumping support area is 682 hectares, using 27 electric pumping stations, oil pumping stations, pumping from Thai river, Ben Hai drainage canal, Do Luong main canal to supplement water for the end of the canal and dam area.
With many specific solutions, Bac Irrigation Company Limited is distributing water on all irrigation channels, thoroughly implementing the reasonable rotation irrigation method throughout the system.
Van Truong
