9 irrigation works exhausted, people dig rocks to find water to "save" crops

The "thirst" for irrigation water

Since early March 2025, a series of irrigation works in Dak Mil district (Dak Nong province) have run out of water. In late March, the irrigation reservoir in Son Trung village (Dak Gan commune, Dak Mil district) became dry and cracked.

9 irrigation works exhausted, people dig rocks to find water — *Son Trung village irrigation lake (Dak Gan commune) is running out of water.*

Ms. Le Thi Lien (born in 1957, residing in Son Trung village, Dak Gan commune) shared that her family cultivates 2 hectares of coffee mixed with pepper. Her family's irrigation water source depends entirely on the Son Trung village irrigation lake. However, over the past month, the lake has almost dried up, making irrigation extremely difficult.

To save the garden, Ms. Lien’s family invested in drilling a 50-meter-deep well in the hope of finding a water source. However, the well water was only enough for daily use and could not meet irrigation needs.

Due to the severe water shortage, Lien and her husband had to make use of every drop of water seeping from the reservoir. Every two days, they went down to the reservoir to draw water to water their coffee garden. However, the little amount of water was only enough to irrigate for an hour, then it dried up again.

Not only Ms. Lien's family, the scarcity of irrigation water is causing Mr. Ta Duy Thong's family (born in 1991, residing in Dak Tho village, Dak Lao commune, Dak Mil district) to fall into a state of anxiety, helplessly watching the coffee garden wither day by day without being able to do anything more.

Mr. Thong's family cultivates 2 hectares of coffee, and the irrigation water source depends on Doi 40 Lake (Dak Lao Commune). However, the lake has been dry for a month now, while his family has not had time to irrigate for the second time. With no other choice, he and two other households in the area have to pay to buy water from a place 1.5 km away from their home, at a cost of up to 500,000 VND per hour of pumping.

Locals said that half a month ago, water from West Lake was regulated to Doi 40 Lake for irrigation, but it quickly dried up because more than 20 pumps were operating at the same time. Now it is time for the third irrigation, but the water has not yet returned, causing the coffee plants to dry up.

"It's time for the third watering of the coffee plants, but we still have to wait for water from the irrigation system to be regulated. Meanwhile, the coffee garden is increasingly dry, and we can only occasionally dredge up the small puddles of water from the bottom of the lake to provide emergency water for the plants," Thong shared.

Mr. Chu Gia That, Head of Dak Tho village, said that the depletion of water resources in the lake has seriously affected crops. Many coffee gardens are gradually suffering from burnt leaves, dry branches, and dry fruits, which seriously affects the productivity and yield of coffee trees.

Speaking to Nguoi Dua Tin , Mr. Truong Xuan Hung, Chairman of Dak Lao Commune People's Committee, said that there are 7 irrigation works in the area. However, up to now, 6 works have run out of water.

Recently, the irrigation unit has been regulating water from West Lake (Dak Mil town, Dak Mil district) to lakes and dams in Dak Lao commune. However, the amount of irrigation water is still not guaranteed, and some wells of many households have also dried up.

The whole commune has 5,000 hectares of industrial crops including coffee, pepper and fruit trees. Through actual inspection, due to lack of irrigation water, about 200 hectares of coffee have been affected and withered. In the coming time, if there is no rain, about 700 hectares of crops in the area will be seriously short of water.

Digging rocks for water

In Duc Manh commune (Dak Mil district, Dak Nong), many households are in dire straits as the local irrigation dam has dried up for nearly a month. The cracked, exposed soil at the Manh Thang Cooperative dam is a heartbreaking image that the people here have to face every day.

Mr. Pham Minh Trung (born in 1967, residing in village 8, Duc Manh commune) said: "The weather is becoming more and more unpredictable. In 2024, El Nino caused water resources to decrease, but this year, even without El Nino, the irrigation lake is still dry."

To save the 1 hour of durian intercropped with coffee and pepper, Mr. Trung's family had to stay by the Manh Thang Cooperative dam, taking advantage of every drop of water seeping from the lake bed.

"After a prolonged drought, if it rains suddenly, the plants are susceptible to heat shock, losing flowers and fruits en masse. Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, we still have to scrape out every drop of water to maintain humidity. Every day, I use a generator to suck water from small veins, but the small amount of water is only enough to water for 30 minutes and then it dries up again," Mr. Trung said worriedly.

With no other choice, many households in Duc Thanh village (Duc Manh commune) had to hire machines to dig ponds and cut rocks to find water sources. Along the fields, a series of deep ponds were dug close together, but not all of them had water.

According to Mr. Tran Quoc Huy (born in 1991, residing in Duc Thanh village), due to the dry irrigation lake, his family and many other households had to hire machines to dig rocks and dig ponds about 1km from the field, spending 20-30 million VND, but the results were still not positive.

"We had to wait for many days for the spring water to flow out before we could continue watering, but it only lasted about 4 hours and then ran out again. Notably, irrigation costs have also become a burden for many households. In addition to investing in an irrigation system, each time we pump water from the pond to the fields, my family has to spend nearly 1 million VND on fuel," Huy said.