>> Another tough year for drought and water shortage is in the forecast
This year’s record prolonged drought - setting a century record - could leave Vietnam’s crops high and dry.
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| Severe drought |
Lakes which feed the country’s hydroelectricity plants are expected to face a water shortage of a combined 38.6 billion cubic metres this year. Hoa Binh lake may see the largest shortfall of 22.8 billion cubic metres. But other lakes are also expected to see lower water levels; Tuyen Quang lake could be short by 1.97 billion cubic metres and Thac Ba lake by 1.35 billion cubic metres.
The state-owned Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) is one of the main suppliers of water for agricultural purposes. However, due to the drought, during this season’s winter-spring crop, the group might only be able to provide water twice, instead of the usual three or four times in previous years.
This will be a nationwide problem, but the agricultural area to be hit hardest could be the northern region, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)’s Department of Irrigation.
During this dry season, the water levels in the downriver sections of the Red and Thai Binh Rivers may have see an average decrease of between 5% and 30%. Near the end of the season levels could fall as much as 39% and 45%.
EVN Deputy General Director Dang Hoang An said the group will do its utmost to ensure a stable water supply for both crops and hydroelectric power generation.
The winter-spring crop 2010-2011 will have combined areas of 635,238 hectares, which will need around 2.7 billion cubic metres of water, equivalent to 500 million kWh of electricity, he said.
To foster the crop, MARD and EVN have agreed to release a combined 2.72 billion cubic metres of water from Thac Ba, Tuyen Quang and Hoa Binh lakes in order to help water crops this year. This supplemental release of water will be carried out in two phases, the first from January 27 to February 2, and the second from February 13-20.
