Environment
Dak Lak deteriorating dams and reservoirs in need of repair
  • | laodong, dtinews.vn | May 30, 2020 07:28 AM
Hundreds of reservoirs in the central highlands province of Dak Lak are in urgent need of repair before the flooding season.


  

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Statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development show that Dak Lak has 782 irrigation constructions including 607 reservoirs with a capacity to store a total of 650 million cubic metres of water. Several major reservoirs can store some millions of cubic metres alone on its own, providing water to thousands of hectares of crops in the downstream.

But over 100 dams need to be repaired quickly for the rainy season. Luckily, none have cracks. During the last rainy season, three reservoirs in Ea Sup District had been badly damaged. Hundreds of households were worried as the water leaked out and caused erosion at several spots.

Meanwhile, half of the deteriorating reservoirs are medium and large-scale constructions. The statistics show that the management capacity and maintenance work in the past years have been very weak. Many dams and reservoirs in Dak Lak have been built decades ago and gone through several management bodies. 35 of the most at-risk are managed by member companies of Coffee One Member Company.

Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also commented that most managers of Coffee One Member Company lack irrigation knowledge so they faced many problems during the management and maintenance process.

Dak Lak Irrigation Department announced that from 2019 to 2021, over VND648bn (USD27.7m) will be spent on repair and upgrade works at 72 constructions. VND400bn come from the World Bank's fund for Dam Rehabilitation and Safety Improvement Project WB8 and the rest come from the provincial budget.

But only 12 constructions were completed in the past year while the rainy season is approaching.

Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to continue allocating fund to help ensure the water for agricultural and daily activities as well as safety for the residents in the downstream.

Nguyen Thanh Long, head of Dak Lak Irrigation Department, said "We have sent official documents to urge agencies to speed up the process. Three major reservoirs already have their own monitoring system. Firms must send employees to monitor other deteriorating constructions."

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