Several sections of the Con River...

(Baonghean) -Which river in Vietnam does not carry heavy alluvium? That heavy natural energy turns into ups and downs in the rhythm of “March and July” on both banks of the hometown river. We reached the first waves of the Con River on a sunny summer afternoon with no rain at the source, and drifted down the stream, thinking about the life of a river in the land of Tan Ky…

Let me quote someone's feelings: The Con River flowing through Tan Ky land is a very strange river. In Nghia Dan land, the river is called Hieu, and in Tan Ky, it becomes Con River. Passing Tan Ky district, the Con River suddenly turns to the West as if reluctant to say goodbye to the great forest, and only then pours into the Lam River at the Cay Chanh intersection in Anh Son district. The Lam River is the Mother River, the Great River, so there is Con and Hieu! Is that river's name a human wish? Tan Ky land, the Con River is a new land, flourishing and thriving every day....

We arrived, barefooted in the first waves of the Con River on a sunny summer afternoon with no rain at the source, and drifted with thoughts and feelings about a passionate "river life" for nearly 40 kilometers through the "homeland of all homelands" Tan Ky... Here, a vast area of ​​​​Vuc Rao water in Nghia Dong commune is like a moment of rest after many rapids of the Hieu River upstream. At the edge of the bend behind the shade of an ancient banyan tree, there is the chattering of young shepherds splashing around beside a herd of fat buffaloes wading in the river.

Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Nghia Dong Commune Tran Van Trung excitedly said: “For Nghia Dong land, the benefits of the Con River are very clear. In addition to the fertile alluvial soil that grows profitable crops such as corn, mulberry, sugarcane, etc., the river is also a source of irrigation water for 35 hectares of rice fields in the commune, which is a condition for promoting livestock development; in 2013, the commune strives to achieve an estimated total agricultural, forestry and fishery production value of 71,280 million VND, thanks to relying heavily on restructuring specialized commodity crops on fertile alluvial soil. However, without the Con River, it would not be possible to do so.” Another thing to note in Nghia Dong is that the locality has been successful in planting trees to prevent erosion. That is the green bamboo "like a rampart" stretching out to the banks of the Con River for dozens of kilometers now, adding hundreds of hectares of fertile land to Nghia Dong, making the raw acacia belt vast, making the mulberry fields and rice fields green, making the villages peaceful and less worried about flood season...

The banks of the Con River are important conditions for the development of large livestock herds.
in Nghia Dong commune.

From Nghia Dong, Con River flows through 16 communes on the left and right banks of Tan Ky district before passing through Anh Son to join Lam River. It can be said that for many generations, the Con River has eroded and deposited its banks, still intact, if not for the consequences of the depletion of the upstream forest and the illegal exploitation of sand and gravel, which have made the river fierce and deformed. We always remember the bewildered look of the Head of the Tan Ky District Agriculture Department, Nguyen Ba Thuc, when he said that the water of Con River, which flows into Hieu River, also carries a lot of water from streams and streams on Tan Ky land, and in the 60s and 70s of the last century, thousands of people from Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, and Nam Dan plains came here to settle down and soon fell in love with the vast green of the mountains and forests in those streams and streams.

Now, there are so many streams like that that have dried up, making this river seem to lack the sentiment of this land (!)... Mr. Thuc also added that the quality of sand and gravel minerals in the Con River is somehow superior to that of the Hieu River or the Lam River, and is very popular in the province's construction market. Therefore, for a long time, the Con River was facing the risk of being "suffocated" by rampant sand and gravel mining, and by 2012, there were still 18 mining sites, 15 gathering wharves, and more than 30 illegal sand and gravel dredging boats... Fortunately, by the beginning of 2013, Tan Ky district had tightened state management discipline in sand and gravel mining, dealt with a series of subjects, and seized dozens of illegal mining vehicles, partly restoring peace to the Con River. Perhaps in Nghe An, there is no locality that has acted as resolutely and effectively as Tan Ky in this matter? But, there is still the risk of landslides on both banks when the rainy season comes...

Nghia Hop Commune borders Nghia Dong Commune on the banks of Con River. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Quynh - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, is concerned: The commune has 300 hectares of agricultural land, of which 100 hectares are 2-crop rice land. Of the rice cultivation area, 30 hectares are irrigated by water from Con River, by Dong Khe Pumping Station. Cay Khe Pumping Station was built in 1996; in 2005, during a big flood, rocks and soil filled the Con River, the river suddenly changed its course, eddying and cutting off a strip of fertile land on the side of Nghia Thai Commune. Since then, every time Nghia Hop Commune wants to operate Dong Khe Pumping Station, the power of machines and people to scoop sand and gravel to clear the flow into the pumping station costs 50-60 million VND/year.

Also from that consequence, the Ban Mong Irrigation Project gave Nghia Hop commune the benefit of a pumping station to replace the current Dong Khe pumping station next to Sen bridge in Nghia Dong commune, which cost tens of billions of dong to build. Unusual floods on the Con River also caused severe damage to crops; in 2010-2011, Tan Ky lost thousands of hectares of corn due to early floods, causing damage of 25-30 billion dong each year. Particularly for Nghia Hop commune, since the Con River changed its flow, the Bai Dinh area used to be a fertile alluvial land, growing 3 crops of corn each year; but now every year it is buried under a layer of rock and soil, making production difficult. And the riverbed is increasingly shallow, so the number of floods in Nghia Hop commune is greater than before.

The silting up of the Con River has caused difficulties for Nghia Hop, but the erosion of Nghia Thai seems to be in a "more difficult situation". Before 2005, this locality had 100 hectares of alluvial land along the river, for planting and harvesting, farmers had roads and bridges, and could easily transport agricultural products. But since the Con River changed its flow, Nghia Thai has lost 60 hectares of alluvial land, people have to go to work by ferry, and agricultural products of all kinds have to be transported to Nghia Dong and Nghia Hop communes to get home. Even the ferry trip to Bai Da is difficult because the water is getting shallower.

Erosion and sedimentation are not the only concerns of "river life". Many people in the communes upstream of the Con River in Tan Ky District have reported on the pollution caused by the Nghia Khanh Cassava Processing Factory (Nghia Dan) located on the riverbank, right at the section where the Hieu River was renamed the Con River. Mr. Bui Xuan Ly - Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tan Ky District said: The Nghia Khanh Cassava Processing Factory has been operating for 6-7 years. Although the environmental pollution has not been serious, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tan Ky District has coordinated with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nghia Dan District to remind the owner of this cassava processing factory to have a solution to handle the environment during the production process.

Regarding Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company, this unit said that there have been many solutions to prevent environmental pollution caused by wastewater discharged into the river, but directly "witnessing" the factory's wastewater treatment system, we realized that the company's wastewater filtration tank system was built too low compared to the normal water level of the Con River. Therefore, when there is a flood, the water level of the Con River can rise 4-5 meters, at that time the entire wastewater filtration tank system is flooded, who can be sure that thousands of cubic meters of wastewater containing foul odors and toxic substances will not flow down the Con River?

Flowing through 16/22 communes and towns of Tan Ky district, Con river plays an important role in the life of a land, but is also a major obstacle to local traffic. Currently, there are only 3 suspension bridges and 2 rigid bridges (Roi bridge and Sen bridge) connecting the two banks of Con river, and a rigid bridge is currently being built from Nghia Hanh commune to Phu Son commune. But those bridges cannot meet the daily travel needs of the people, so Tan Ky still has to maintain 4 ferry piers across Con river, of which 3 piers are in Phu Son commune (the last commune of Tan Ky district with Con river flowing through) and 1 Bai Da pier in Nghia Thai and Nghia Hop communes... The difficulties in traffic are hard to describe, but the most worrying thing is the danger to human life in the swaying of each ferry trip, especially during the rainy season.

The Con River, like many other rivers in Vietnam, is like the cool milk of Mother Earth that nourishes life and nurtures the spirit of the Tan Ky homeland to change and renew. Those stories about "river life" are not enough to match the concerns of the people of Tan Ky district for a river that is a natural condition that strongly affects the production life, the living environment and the ecosystem of the district. That concern is partly directed towards the source where the green forest is at an increasing risk of depletion; and another important part is for the leaders of Tan Ky district today: From now on, have the right perception of the Con River, act for the Con River, such as mobilizing and supporting people living on both banks to plant trees to prevent erosion and landslides; protect the river environment in production and daily life; join hands to take care of every flood...

Article and photos: Dinh Sam - Xuan Hoang