Salinity levels down to allowable levels, pumping stations operate at full capacity to save rice

Present at Chau Nhan commune, the most saline area in Hung Nguyen district in the past time on the morning of July 11, the reporter recorded that the water level in Rum river had exceeded the dead water level compared to half a month ago. At high tide, the water level was estimated at about 4-5 meters, although it had not reached the peak, but this was also a good sign after a whole month of being in a state of exhaustion, meeting the necessary condition of having water to pump for irrigation of rice.

What makes the people and irrigation staff here happiest is that after about a month of not being able to pump water due to saline water, the salinity of the water has now decreased to the allowable level, and the hope of saving the dry, cracked rice fields has been rekindled.

Mr. Pham The Linh, Head of Hung Chau Pumping Station, said: In recent days, the salinity concentration of Rum River water that we measured is below 1 part per thousand, which is enough to be able to pump water for crops. As soon as the results were available, the unit mobilized all forces to be on duty, operating the pump continuously for about 16 hours a day to save the rice.

According to Mr. Chau, there are two reasons why the salinity concentration in the water has reached the allowable level. First, there have been rains in the past few days, although they did not last long, the large amount of rain helped dissolve the salinity. In addition, the water from upstream also poured in more than a month ago, helping to push the salinity in the downstream area.

Walking along the fields in Chau Nhan commune, just last week they were still dry and cracked, now the cracks are still there but instead they have been covered with a layer of water about 10cm high, enough to save the rice. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Vinh, Chau Nhan commune, excitedly said: "It's been a whole month since we've seen water to pump to the rice, if there was no water, in just a few more sunny days, the rice would dry up and die, so this is a source of "golden water" for the plants to continue to live and grow in the coming time.

It is known that Hung Chau Pumping Station has 6 horizontal units and 8 vertical units, responsible for irrigating nearly 1,000 hectares of rice in the communes along the dike of Hung Nguyen district. Currently, the pumping station staff are taking advantage of every hour to pump water to save the rice because the decrease in salinity is only temporary. If the coming time continues to be hot and sunny without rain, the water will be completely re-saline.

In Nghi Loc district, for the past half month, the work of preventing salinity and preserving fresh water to save rice has been given top priority by the locality, especially about 1,000 hectares of rice that take water from Cam bridge to Nghi Quang bara. In recent days, there have been relatively heavy rains in the area, so the salinity concentration here has also returned to the allowable threshold, and irrigation is being carried out continuously by Nghi Loc irrigation enterprise.

Mr. Bui Van Hao - Chairman of the Board of Members of Nam Irrigation Company said: Following the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the unit mobilized 4 excavators, conducted dredging, and built a temporary dam to prevent deep saline intrusion. After 4 days of construction, the dam was completed, saltwater from Nghi Quang bara could not pass the dam. Localities that have not yet been affected by saltwater intrusion urgently mobilized forces to pump irrigation for rice. Because this is a temporary dam to prevent saline intrusion, when the water from upstream flows heavily, the dam will have to be removed to prevent flooding.

Although the salinity concentration has now decreased to the allowable level, according to the recommendation of Nghe An Irrigation Department, the hot weather in the coming time will continue to last, if there is no additional rain, the possibility of re-salinization still exists. Localities need to regularly check the salinity, regulate water properly, and have solutions to prevent salinity from encroaching deep into the fields, and resolutely not pump water when the water exceeds the allowable salinity concentration.

This summer-autumn crop season, Nghe An will plant 81,000 hectares of rice. According to assessment, this is a crop facing many difficulties and challenges. Temperatures are generally higher while total rainfall is lower than the average of many years. Water in dams, rivers, streams and key works is at low levels, saline intrusion is increasingly serious. According to statistics of Nghe An Irrigation Department, the whole province has over 10,000 hectares of rice area at risk of drought and saline intrusion.