Coping with drought in the southern irrigation region

(Baonghean) - Since the beginning of April 2014, the hot weather has caused a shortage of water for agricultural irrigation. At reservoirs, due to lower average annual rainfall, combined with hot evaporation, the 13 reservoirs managed by the Nam Irrigation Company have only 40 - 60% of their designed capacity left. The ability to irrigate the summer-autumn crop will be difficult if there is no short-term rain.

Nam Irrigation Company is responsible for irrigating 50,000 hectares of rice in the localities: Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc and Vinh City. Facing the risk of water shortage for the winter-spring crop, on April 15, the company issued an official dispatch directing irrigation enterprises and key stations to strengthen water-saving measures, proactively fight drought to provide enough water for winter-spring rice and summer-autumn planting. Because this year's drought occurred earlier than usual, right at the time when rice was blooming, it also fell during the period of minimum tide, leading to more complicated developments of the drought situation, affecting the most important growth period of rice. If there is not enough water, productivity will decrease. To avoid losses caused by drought, the company has proposed measures to manage water resources and operate stations: Key pumping stations strictly control and inspect water sources, proactively manage water levels in the system. Pumping stations are built and operated according to the drought prevention plan approved by the company or factory. Make a detailed water distribution plan for each batch and each specific unit to promote high efficiency and save water resources...

Currently, the water level on Lam River is low, compared to the design at Nam Dan sluice gate from 0.7 - 0.8m, leading to a shortage of supply for the pumping stations. At Thanh Thuy lake in Van Dien commune, Nam Dan district, with a capacity of 1.1 million m3 of water, there is currently about 40% of the design capacity. Nam Dan district Irrigation Enterprise has developed a plan to operate the lake to ensure enough irrigation water for the winter-spring crop, strengthen anti-loss measures such as reinforcing anti-leakage dams, clearing the flow, detecting leaks in the canal system to overcome and avoid water loss... At Nam Dan sluice gate at 3:30 p.m. is the time when the high tide reaches its peak, but the water level at the sluice gate is still 30 cm lower than the design level (reaching 1.05m). On duty at the scene, Station Chief Bach Hung Trung said that the station has 12 people, divided into 2 shifts, on duty day and night to get water. When the tide rises, the sluice gate is opened to get water into the system. When the tide is low, close the sluice to prevent water from flowing into the river (during this season, the water level in the river is usually lower than in the canal).

Downstream to Nam Dan at the 4AC pumping station, staff and workers are focusing on dredging the secondary canal system. Although it is not under the management of the station, the station has proactively dredged it to clear the flow and save water.

At Pumping Station No. 6 of Hung Nguyen Irrigation Enterprise, water is supplied to 337 hectares of rice in Hung Dao - Hung Thai - Hung Tay communes. The station has 2 machines (1 vertical shaft, 1 horizontal shaft). Before April 14, the water level was enough to pump 2 machines. Now the water level has decreased, the vertical pump cannot operate. Knowing that drought will occur, the station has proactively built a pumping schedule in advance, and so far 80% of the irrigated area has had enough water. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hinh - Station Manager, in addition to the early water pumping plan, the station and localities have built a reasonable water pumping schedule, prioritizing remote and difficult areas. The station's staff have divided into communes to coordinate with localities to inspect canals and build embankments to retain water. Each irrigation session must keep water on the field surface for 10 - 15 days to reduce the amount of irrigation water.

Field pumps are installed at Hung Chau Pumping Station to respond to drought.

Hung Chau pumping station consists of 8 units, each with a capacity of 8,000m3/h, both for irrigation and drainage. The station has the motto of "irrigating together - draining". In addition to building a scientific irrigation schedule based on the water needs of each period of rice plants to provide enough water, avoiding excess supply causing waste, the station also applies non-structural measures such as propaganda to make people aware that water is a limited resource so that they are aware of using water reasonably, improving farming methods to save water, organizing irrigation areas reasonably... From the propaganda of the station, Hung Chau commune agricultural cooperative has found a reasonable way to save water. 100% of the cooperative's rice area (220 ha) is planted, direct sowing will consume more water. Building embankments to store water. In the irrigation schedule, the high areas are irrigated first, then the low areas are irrigated later to avoid wasting water from the high areas, flowing down to the low areas... Those are the methods that Hung Chau Cooperative has applied according to Mr. Nguyen Van Hao, the head of the Cooperative.

To ensure enough water to fight drought in the winter-spring and summer-autumn crop this year, in addition to the initiative and creativity of the stations and enterprises, the Nam Irrigation Company has also closely directed specific science, focusing the highest resources on drought prevention. According to Mr. Bach Hung Tuyen - Director of the Company, the water supply schedule for each locality and each field is based on the specific situation of each station, built by the stations through the enterprise to build a common schedule for the entire system, based on which the company directs. In addition, based on the actual situation, the company operates the schedule, supplying water to the localities in the most scientific way. Coordinate with localities in the system to disseminate water saving measures... In addition, the company also built field pumping stations to respond when the water level drops, installed horizontal pumps at upstream stations to make full use of water resources... To serve irrigation for the winter-spring - summer-autumn crop of 2014, the company invested more than 44 billion VND to dredge canals (33 billion VND), repair electromechanical systems, 6.3 billion VND to repair spare oil pumps and 2.7 billion VND to buy drought-resistant oil...

Mr. Tuan