Yen Thanh: Many solutions to mitigate natural disasters in the dam area

(Baonghean) - Yen Thanh district has over 250 medium and small dams, most of which were built a long time ago and have seriously degraded over many years of use. To ensure safety during the rainy and stormy season and sufficient water for production, in 2014, Yen Thanh district invested in upgrading and repairing a number of dams in key areas.

Nhan Tien Reservoir in Tien Thanh mountainous commune, although the capacity is only 100 thousand cubic meters, providing irrigation water for 40 hectares of cultivated land, this dam plays an important role in flood drainage of the system of large dams such as: Ke Sat, Don Hung. In 2013, due to the consecutive impact of 3 storms, heavy rain caused landslides of the dam body and spillway, threatening the lives of over 30 households in the downstream area. In early 2014, with urgent support capital from the Provincial People's Committee, Nhan Tien Dam was invested in upgrading with a number of items such as: Road bridge, spillway, residential road and dam bank reinforcement with a total capital of 2.9 billion VND. After nearly 3 months of urgent construction, up to now, over 70% of the volume of the items has been completed. Mr. Nguyen Huu Dai - Chairman of Tien Thanh Commune People's Committee said: On the local government side, we have urged the contractor to ensure the quality of the project, organized the People's Inspection Board and closely supervised the community to ensure the project's technical and aesthetic standards as well as construction progress.

Drill to respond to the incident of dam break at Don Hung - Hung Thanh commune - Yen Thanh.

In the mountainous commune of My Thanh, in association with the National Target Program on New Rural Development, the commune has recently received investment from the State to build an internal irrigation system, in which two local dams, Khe Cua and Truong Dam, have received funding for upgrading and repairing with a total investment of 10 billion VND. Although many construction items had to be carried out, while the funding source was limited, with the high determination of the construction unit, up to this point Khe Cua Dam has completed the items with the volume of excavation and filling of the reservoir bed and dam roof of 5,000 m3 of soil, increasing the capacity to hold nearly 200,000 m3 of water. In particular, the dam bank was raised 1 m higher than the original design; the downstream roof was planted with grass to prevent landslides, the upstream roof was paved with dry stone and poured with reinforced concrete. The spillway was expanded to 10 meters and reinforced with concrete, accepted by the investor, the District People's Committee, and handed over to the locality for operation and use, ensuring water reserves for irrigation in the summer-autumn crop and safety during the rainy season. Currently, Danh Nhung Company Limited is speeding up the construction progress of phase 1 at Truong Dam, striving to complete the spillway before the rainy season.

As a plain, semi-mountainous district with many dam systems, with the support of the provincial budget and the district's counterpart budget, from 2011 up to now, Yen Thanh has implemented 25 investment projects to repair and upgrade the dam system. In which, some key dams such as: Khe Bai dam in Ma Thanh commune; dam 3 - 2 in Dong Thanh commune; Ky Ruou dam in Tang Thanh commune; Khe Chuoi dam, Khe Cho dam in Tay Thanh commune; Khe Trau dam in Quang Thanh commune (invested by the Provincial Sub-Department of Flood and Storm Control). Bau Trang dam in Trung Thanh commune, Cay Tang dam in Son Thanh commune... have basically completed the items, ensuring the safety of the reservoir, increasing the reserve, stabilizing the irrigation area. Yen Thanh district continues to promote its internal resources, well solving the problem of site clearance to receive investment and attract investment for dams with a capacity of 200,000 m3 or more. In 2014 alone, we strive to complete 15 projects to repair and upgrade dams, ensuring water supply for production in highland communes and avoiding natural disasters in the upcoming flood season. In particular, at Don Hung dam, Hung Thanh commune and Nha Tro reservoir, Tan Thanh mountainous commune, which has a large reserve of 3.5 to 4.3 million cubic meters of water, although it has been upgraded and repaired many times, heavy rains at the end of last year have caused the water intake culvert to be eroded, and the upstream and downstream dam slopes have appeared to have subsided and leaked. Despite financial difficulties, before this year's flood season, the managing unit, the Bac Irrigation One Member Co., Ltd. and Yen Thanh Irrigation Enterprise, have focused on overcoming the problem; opening more spillways, mending landslides, building the dike slope, raising the dam body...

To proactively cope with all situations, on June 9, Yen Thanh district chose Don Hung dam to organize a 2014 flood and storm prevention drill at the provincial level, to handle situations of dam breakage risks when there are heavy rains and floods. In addition to mobilizing forces to help people reinforce their houses, raise assets and evacuate 400 people from 154 households in 4 hamlets in the downstream areas of Lang Thanh, Tien Thanh and Hung Thanh communes to 2 safe locations, the district's Flood and Storm Prevention and Control Steering Committee mobilized hundreds of people including militia and self-defense forces, core platoons of Tien Thanh, Hung Thanh, Lang Thanh, Dong Thanh communes and the police force, the district's military command used 3,000 cubic meters of rock to treat seepage, dam body subsidence, downstream slope slide and use explosives to break the flood spillway when water overflowed the dam crest. Thanks to the adherence to the "4 on-site" motto, in this exercise, Yen Thanh district was ranked as excellent by the Provincial Steering Committee and Exercise Director Board. Mr. Nguyen Sy Hung - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee said: This is an opportunity for Yen Thanh district to improve the leadership and direction capacity of the Party Committee, the administration; coordination of departments and organizations; coordination in mobilization between military forces, police and departments and organizations from the district to the grassroots when storms and floods occur. Through that, it contributes to fostering and raising vigilance among the people; The level of application of equipment and means, the work of deploying and mobilizing forces according to the motto "4 on-site" to cope with natural disasters, floods and storms in the dam areas. For dam projects under construction, the district has regularly urged and strengthened community supervision, and required contractors to base on important items to construct first. Although Resolution 1792 of the Government stipulates that the amount of capital is used, Yen Thanh district has mobilized all capital sources to achieve 140% of the plan, promptly handled weak incidents, and prevented incidents from happening.

Faced with the impact of global climate change, natural disasters are becoming more and more complex, tending to increase in intensity, abnormality and danger level, Yen Thanh's natural disaster mitigation solutions are extremely necessary. Along with the synchronous implementation of flood prevention and control plans, Yen Thanh district is proactively implementing many solutions for key areas of dams and reservoirs, aiming to increase the safety factor during the rainy and flood season.

Article and photos:Sun