(Baonghean.vn) - The heatwave lasting 28 days in May 2015 is considered a historic and the longest heatwave since 1971. It is estimated that the temperature will only gradually decrease in the first 10 days of June. The biggest impact is that many areas of summer-autumn rice seedlings have dried up and withered.
This heatwave has put the entire area of summer-autumn rice seedlings in Hung Nguyen district at risk of being scorched. In some areas such as Hung Thang, Hung Chau, Hung Loi, Hung Phuc, and Hung Tay communes, up to two-thirds of the rice seedlings have withered due to lack of water.
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| Rice seedlings in the Cham rice field (Hung Thang - Hung Nguyen) are cracking due to lack of water. Currently, more than 1,000 square meters of seedlings in this field have no hope of survival, while the remaining 1,000 square meters may recover if irrigation water is supplied in time. |
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| Mr. Tran Xuan Kieu, head of Ao hamlet (Hung Thang district), has been staying to save rice seedlings for the past few days. He said that Ao hamlet has about 45 hectares of rice fields, but because so many seedlings have died from drought, it is almost impossible to guarantee a sufficient supply of seeds for the summer-autumn planting season. |
These days, officials from the Department of Agriculture and the Irrigation Enterprise of Hung Nguyen district are working hard to regulate water, reinforce local pumping stations, and dam rivers to retain water in order to supply water to save rice seedlings for farmers in downstream areas.
On May 27, 2015, the District People's Committee issued an urgent directive instructing communes to implement a rotational pumping schedule. However, by May 28, water levels throughout the entire system had dropped to the dead water level, forcing most pumping stations to cease operation.
Mr. Hoang Duc An, Deputy Head of the Agriculture Department of Hung Nguyen district, said: The only water source for the communes of Hung Tien, Hung Thang, Hung Chau, and Hung Loi is pumped from the old pumping station of Hung Xuan Cooperative (3,000 m³).3 /h), however, they can only pump for 12-15 hours each day. The Hung Xuan bridge pumping station, despite always having sufficient water, is not very efficient. It has 3 pumps with a capacity of 3,000 m³.3 /h, but the amount of water discharged from the tank only reaches about 600 - 700 m³.3 /h.
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| The villagers and officials of Ao hamlet are trying everything they can to save the rice seedlings. |
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| Officials and farmers in Hung Thang commune are digging canals to bring water to save rice seedlings. |
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| The first small stream of water was channeled to save the rice seedlings on the first day of June. |
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| Water is supplied from pumping station 9B (Hung My) to irrigate the Cham rice fields (Hung Thang). Currently, nearly 90 hectares of rice seedlings in these fields are waiting for water. |
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| The Le Xuan Dao canal (Hung Xuan) is running low on water this season. |
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| Rice seedlings are adequately irrigated in Hung Xuan commune - the only commune in Hung Nguyen district that can guarantee 80% of its rice planting area thanks to the Hung Xuan pumping station. |
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| Mr. Hoang Duc An, Deputy Head of the Agriculture Department of Hung Nguyen District, anxiously directed the relocation and diversion of pumping stations and water sources to save the rice seedlings. |
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| The Rum River pumping station (Hung Chau) has been operational since May 28th, aiming to provide emergency localized relief for Hung Loi, Hung Chau, and part of Hung Phuc communes, with a capacity of 2,000 m3/h for over 400 hectares of rice fields in the three communes. |
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| Water from the Rum River pumping station is being transferred to save the rice crops. However, due to tidal influences, salinity levels must be checked every hour. Currently, there are only two pumps here, while at least three are needed. This afternoon (June 2nd), the water flow will be diverted from Hung Chau to save the rice seedlings in Hung Loi. |
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Water levels are extremely low at the Hung Chau pumping station. The pumping system here has a capacity of 8,000 m³/h, enough to irrigate 400 to 500 hectares of rice fields, but currently there is no water available for pumping. |
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| The water level at the Hung Chau Pumping Station indicator has dropped to 0.1, while 0.5 is already considered the dead water level. |
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The rice fields in Hung Chau, where the spring crop is drying up due to a lack of water from upstream, are currently unsuitable for preparing the land for the summer-autumn rice planting season. |
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| Residents of Hamlet 2 (Hung Thinh) are taking advantage of the nighttime to harvest water spinach in preparation for planting rice seedlings. |
According to the report from the District People's Committee, Hung Nguyen district has requested the Nam Irrigation Company to install two additional pumps to pump water from the Rum River into the discharge basin of the Hung Chau pumping station.
However, due to saline water sources, pumping is only possible during certain hours of the day. In the outlying communes such as Hung Tay, only 150 hectares out of 750 hectares have water; Hung Yen Nam has 80 hectares out of 225 hectares; Hung Yen Bac has 60 hectares out of 260 hectares; and Hung Trung has 200 hectares out of 420 hectares.
Thus, as of May 31, 2015, more than 75% of the district's area still lacked water for production, with the most serious situation occurring in the communes of: Hung Loi, Hung Chau, Hung Thinh, Hung Phuc, the town center, Hung My, Hung Dao, Hung Tay, Hung Yen Bac, Hung Yen Nam…
Thanh Nga - Tran Hai
