The lake and the vitality of a countryside

(Baonghean) -Vuc Mau Lake is one of the largest irrigation projects in Nghe An province, born from the bold decision of the Secretary of the Quynh Luu District Party Committee - Nguyen Huu Doi and the efforts of nearly ten years of hard work, with "rice and eggplant" to "change the sky and earth" of the people of Quynh Luu...

"Changing heaven, changing earth"

Construction of Vuc Mau Lake began in 1978. In those years, the country had just emerged from war, with many difficulties, hardships, and shortages. Quynh Luu District was also busy with the migration of people to the mountains, the improvement of fields, and the construction of irrigation works... In that context, the decision of Quynh Luu District Party Secretary - Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi to block the water flow to build Vuc Mau Dam (with an area of ​​approximately 1/3 of the district's area) was truly a bold decision. Because of the lack of machinery, it was mainly human power with hands digging ditches, scooping soil, and being present on every meter of construction land for nearly ten years. Thus, the Party Committee and people of Quynh Luu created the miracle of Vuc Mau Lake.

The purpose of building Vuc Mau lake is to bring water to serve the production and life of the people in 10 communes in Hoang Mai area. This wild, poor, arid land that people often say to each other "dogs eat stones, chickens eat gravel", is full of towering limestone cliffs, no green can be found. Even the pine forest is discolored by rock dust. Here, it is too far to get water from Do Luong bara dam, 2 dams: Ba Tuy dam and Doi Tuong dam have very little reserves.

Each wave of workers was mobilized to build dams, build banks, and construct water canal systems. The slogan “Change the sky, change the land, rearrange the country/ Mo rice, eggplant and communist hearts” spoke of the spirit of the Quynh Luu youth at that time. Mr. Tran Dinh Khue (born in 1946) recounted the years he directed the workers of Quynh Hong commune to build Vuc Mau lake: “At that time, building the Vuc Mau lake project mobilized all the youth in the district, taking turns, and dividing into sections to do. Dredging, straightening the stream, and building dams had machines, but digging canals to communes was mainly done by human power. Difficult, arduous, and long-term, each commune had to carry their own burdens, hoes, and shovels, and bring rice and paddy along.

The spirit is always burning”. Decades have passed, but it is not difficult to find people who used to work at Vuc Mau Lake, in any commune of Quynh Luu district. They still clearly remember the days of bare feet walking on the burning sand and gravel, remember the dry ground with chipped hoe blades. Digging and filling nearly 75 million cubic meters of soil, mainly by shoulder, by hand, by buffalo cart...

Mau Lake is located in Quynh Trang and Quynh Luu communes.

The lake area is over 1,000 hectares, nearly 1km long from Quynh Thang, Tan Thang to Quynh Trang, with a capacity of over 40 million m3. Not to mention the canal system connecting communes and bringing water to each field and village. The project supplies water to 10 communes in the Hoang Mai area: Quynh Trang, Quynh Tan, Quynh Xuan, Quynh Hoa, Quynh Van, Quynh Di, Mai Hung, Hoang Mai... There has never been an irrigation lake in Quynh Luu that is as large, mobilizing so much people's strength, over a period of nearly ten years, becoming the pride of the people in the district, with deep gratitude from the people of Hoang Mai area until now.

Water returns, life flourishes

Running along the communes from Quynh Hoa, Quynh Van… to Quynh Trang on an April afternoon, the wind blew gently over the green, undulating rice fields. The water of Vuc Mau flowed clear under the canal. Who would have thought that just over ten years ago, this was the poorest area of ​​Quynh Luu district.

The elderly, remembering clearly the day the water returned, were waiting and happy. Vuc Mau Lake was put into use to ensure regular irrigation, awakening a whole wilderness into a prosperous village. In the past, life was extremely difficult and precarious. Rice plants lived on the rain of the sky. In years with "favorable weather", people had less worries about hunger. Farmers "first water, second fertilizer, third diligence, fourth seeds". The summer-autumn crop is the crop that gives the biggest rice income of the year, but in this wilderness, in the summer the ground just evaporates but the sky does not give water, without water, how can the rice bloom? People in the communes of Quynh Trang, Quynh Tan, Quynh Xuan... still cannot forget the dry years, when the rice was just sprouting branches and dying red in the fields, feeling sorry for the rice but had to cut it down to feed the buffaloes and cows to avoid waste. When there was water from Vuc Mau Lake, people's production was proactive and developed strongly. The cultivated area increased, and productivity was high. Previously, rice productivity in Hoang Mai communes was very low, but now it has caught up with the central communes, averaging about 60 quintals/ha. The long droughts and cracked fields every dry season have no longer haunted us. Green has covered all the fields and gardens.

Water flows through the ditch to the fields and gardens.

Mr. Tran Van Tuan - Vice Chairman of Quynh Trang Commune People's Committee said: "Not only Quynh Trang Commune, but also all 10 communes in Hoang Mai area, could not exist today without Vuc Mau Lake". The project also created for residents of communes around the lake (Quynh Trang, Quynh Tan, Quynh Thang...) the profession of fishing with an output of up to thousands of tons per year. Since the lake was built, there were people fishing. At first, due to the lack of management, the situation of indiscriminate and massive fishing, fishing by electricity, and blasting caused the source of life in the lake to be exhausted. Many fishermen left the profession to fish elsewhere. However, later, the establishment of Vuc Mau Lake Aquaculture Company created a change in organization and high discipline in business. The company will be responsible for protecting the lake, releasing fish fry into the lake. Those who fish will be allowed to fish in the designated area, and return a part of their income to the enterprise. In the past, everyone did their own thing. Now people know how to both fish and protect, gain high profits, sustainably, and more safely, while preserving the landscape and environment.

Currently, Vuc Mau Lake has been upgraded, with 5 flood discharge gates with a total water catchment area of ​​215 km2, a designed reserve of 75 million m3 of water; ensuring water for daily life of people in the area and Hoang Mai Industrial Park, water plants, Quynh Lap Central Dermatology and Leprosy Hospital; supplying irrigation water for more than 4,600 hectares of cultivated land; supplying domestic water for nearly 40,000 households in Hoang Mai urban area and Quynh Luu district, supplying water for industry 11,388 million m3/year. Aquaculture in the lake bed and creating a water source for aquaculture in the area is 400 hectares, at the same time reducing floods for the downstream. In the coming time, the lake will continue to be upgraded and built to serve the production and daily life of the people.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh, Head of the Department of Agriculture of Quynh Luu district, said: “Vuc Mau Lake is a key irrigation project of Quynh Luu district. Thanks to the water from the lake, agricultural production, aquaculture, etc. are more stable and sustainable. In addition, the exploitation of aquatic resources in the lake bed is also developed, and there is currently a plan to combine fishing and regeneration. In fact, since the establishment of Vuc Mau Lake, the appearance of people's lives in the 10 communes in the Northwest of Quynh Luu has changed greatly."

Returning to the work on Vuc Mau Lake, an aquaculture company was established with Mr. Nguyen Quoc Huu (Quynh Thang commune) as Director. Previously, Mr. Huu himself was also a "fish killer" in the lake. But he found that after "exterminating" fish from one lake to another, all places could only be exploited for a while, and life was still uncertain. He reconsidered and decided to establish an aquaculture company, right on Vuc Mau Lake. Changing the way of doing business effectively, Mr. Huu made many other people contribute capital and pay shares to raise and exploit the reservoir's aquatic resources in a planned manner.

Running along the solid concrete embankment of Vuc Mau Lake, looking across the vast shore to the other side, the water surface shining golden in the afternoon sun, the hills looming in the distance. This place is still being built as an eco-tourism and resort area because of its beauty and vastness. Congratulations to a land that has grown strongly, becoming a new industrial park of the whole province, and will soon grow into a town.

The water of Vuc Mau Lake has been flowing for nearly 30 years. That much time has passed for the people who once longed for fresh water to witness its rebirth on their own land. That much time has passed for the canal to become familiar, a peaceful beauty of the countryside; for many children to be born with a cool childhood bathing in it. And that much time has passed for not only the land, but also the water to become flesh and blood, a part of the soul of the simple and honest people here.

Ho Lai