'Ban Ve Hydropower Plant is about to run out of water'

This is the warning given by Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at the working session on the afternoon of June 26 of the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee.

Nghi Loc district currently has 3,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice facing severe drought. Photo: Nhat Tuan

According to Mr. Hieu, the agricultural sector is currently facing many challenges, the most prominent of which is the lack of water due to the raging drought. Localities have reported a total area of ​​cultivated land lacking water of about 12,500 hectares. Based on that, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has organized field inspections and found that most of them still have the conditions to pump water in rotation to keep food crops and vegetables from dying.

Besides proposing the orientation of switching to drought-tolerant crop cultivation, the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed that drought prevention work is still being vigorously implemented.

Discussing this content, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Viet Hong said that as of June 26, the drought in Nghe An had lasted 22 days. The province has closely coordinated with the hydrometeorological station and departments and branches to produce, regulate water, and direct reasonable water allocation.

“The drought is likely to last until the end of June, with heavy rains forecast to appear from July 2 to 4, so the drought situation is very difficult. Recently, the Provincial People's Committee has issued a document assigning Ban Ve Hydropower Plant and the Western districts to regulate water for downstream, serving agriculture, industry, and people's lives...”, he said.

Ban Ve Hydropower Plant releases water. Photo: Nhat Lan

In fact, last week the Provincial People's Committee directed Ban Ve Hydropower Plant to release water from 100-120 m³/second, to provide water to the downstream area. However, the current difficulty is that the elevation of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant is currently at 159/200m. If the discharge rate of 100 m3/second is maintained, if it still does not rain, it is estimated that in about 8-9 days, Ban Ve Hydropower Plant will run out of water.

According to the inter-reservoir process, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee has the right to manage water during the flood and drought seasons. The Provincial People's Committee assessed that Ban Ve Hydropower Plant has strictly complied with the request to release water to regulate the downstream area.