Risk of water shortage in river basin and reservoir increases to 40%

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has just issued a warning about water shortages in the main river systems as well as water reservoirs of the Central region, Central Highlands, and Southeast region in the last months of this year's dry season.

According to the Ministry, the water level of large and important reservoirs in these regions is very low at the moment, severely lacking compared to the regulated water level for the inter-reservoir operation process during the dry season in river basins.

The average reservoir water level is lower in the range of 0.4 m to 24 m, corresponding to a total water shortage in the range of 16 to 389 million m³. Specifically, the shortages of some large reservoirs are as follows: Ban Ve Lake (389 million m³), Ngan Truoi (7 million m³), A Vuong (48.26 million m³), Buon Tua Srah (111.3 million m³), Song Tranh 2 (68.4 million m³).

With the mentioned water shortage, along with the assessment of hydro-meteorological trends, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF) forecasts the El Nino phenomenon's possibility of influence and makes an early assessment of the risk of a water shortage until the end of the dry season in 2023. To be more specific, the flow may be 15–50% short in rivers compared to the multi-year average. Total flow to large reservoirs is forecast to be 15–35% lower than the multi-year average. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the risk of a water shortage during the remainder of the dry season is expected to be severe.

Promulgating urgent solutions to reduce the risk of a water shortage

taking the initiative, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment proposes to the relevant ministries, departments, branches and units a number of solutions. The goal is to minimize the possible water shortage in the river basins of the Central and Central Highlands, maintain balance, secure sufficient water supply for the lowlands of river basins in the dry season of 2023, and ensure water sources for daily life and production in the periods of peak heat.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will direct the Vietnam Electricity, National Load Dispatch Centre, along with the reservoir management and operation units to make mobilization plans and schemes, operation plans for hydroelectric power plants in accordance with the current status of water sources, and regulations of the inter-reservoir operation process in river basins, especially for reservoirs with low lake water levels. The implementation of necessary actions will be based on the principle of prioritizing the balance of water supply for the lowlands during the remainder of the dry season, ensuring water use requirements, and minimizing the risk of water shortages in the lowlands of river basins.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will direct authorities to calculate and make specific plans to collect water for the production of the 2023 summer-autumn crop; come to an agreement with relevant agencies on the specific time and plan for water regulation for the lowlands, flexible in terms of water intake time and water level in the river lowlands; ensure appropriate capacity to take water effectively from irrigation works; guide the downstream localities to agree on the crop period and the time to take water in accordance with the increased discharge time of the reservoirs as planned, not to prolong the time of water intake.

Along with that, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will direct units managing and operating the irrigation structure system in the lowlands to review and improve the capacity and efficiency of water intake in accordance with the water source conditions of reservoirs and river basins and pay special attention to water intake structures along the main streams and large irrigation systems in the lowlands to avoid wasting water, especially in the basins of the Ma, Ca, Vu Gia, Thu Bon, and Ba rivers.

The Ministry of Construction will direct authorities and units managing and operating large and important water supply plants to review and improve the capacity and efficiency of water intake in accordance with the water source conditions of the reservoirs and river basins, ensuring safe water supply for people's daily lives and production in the lowlands of river basins, especially in Vu Gia, Thu Bon, Ba, and Dong Nai river basins.

The People's Committees of provinces and cities will direct the formulation of appropriate water use plans in the condition of water shortage; manage and operate the irrigation structure system in implementing water intake in accordance with the time and plan on operation and discharge of water from reservoirs; coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in uniformly deploying the season and time of water intake in accordance with the plan on water operation and discharge of the reservoirs; renovate, upgrade and supplement structures so that the relevant units can become proactive and flexible in organizing water intake in the condition that water sources continue to be at risk of shortage in the coming time.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment requires units managing and operating reservoirs in river basins to closely monitor hydro-meteorological situations, forecast, calculate, make reservoir operation and control scenarios, and provide information and data according to the regulations of the inter-reservoir operation process; operate the reservoir with the flow and discharge time as prescribed by the inter-reservoir operation process and the requirements of competent state agencies; and ensure safe water supply requirements for the lowlands of river basins until the end of the dry season.