The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment proposed to amend the operating procedure of inter-reservoirs in the Central region.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment proposed to amend and supplement flexible regulations on the operation of reservoirs in five river basins in the Central region, and add regulations on the responsibilities of reservoir owners.

Song Ba Ha Hydropower Plant operates flood discharge - Photo: MINH PHUONG

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has just sent an official dispatch to ministries, branches and localities to solicit opinions from agencies and units on the draft content of amending and supplementing a number of articles of 5 inter-reservoir operation procedures on the Ba, Huong, Vu Gia - Thu Bon, Tra Khuc and Kon - Ha Thanh river basins.

The quality of forecasting the flow to the lake is not high, leading to confusion in regulation.

According to the draft of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, although the inter-reservoir operation process has been effective in reducing downstream floods in recent times, given the complex and unusual developments of floods as above, the implementation of inter-reservoir processes still has some shortcomings.

For example, the regulatory capacity of reservoirs, especially those in the Central region, is limited, and can only reduce floods for localities in the downstream areas affected by the regulation of the reservoirs, but cannot solve all downstream flood problems in the entire river basin.

Regulations on flood reception and flood reduction water levels for some river basins aim to ensure fixed capacity to reduce flooding downstream during the flood season.

However, there are still some times when the competent authority decides to lower the lake water level to increase the flood capacity for downstream areas.

The quality of reservoir flow forecasts (responsibility of the reservoir owner) is still low, leading to confusion in proposing flood regulation and reduction plans for downstream areas.

This is also one of the reasons causing difficulty in deciding on operations, especially in lowering water levels to welcome floods and cutting and reducing floods.

In order to promptly handle situations in the event of unusual and urgent rain and floods, exceeding the design as well as exceeding the discharge capacity of the project as has happened in the past, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment proposes to amend and supplement flexible regulations on continuing to lower the water level of reservoirs below the flood reception level prescribed in the inter-reservoir operation procedures without depending on operating signals in case of necessity to increase the cut-off capacity, reduce floods for downstream when forecasted occurrence or occurrence of heavy rain, floods, double floods, or unusual.

At the same time, the authority of the Chairman of the Provincial and Municipal People's Committees is supplemented in deciding to use the capacity from the normal water level to the design flood level or inspection flood level depending on the project in emergency and unusual cases on the basis of ensuring the safety of the project and downstream.

Diagram of the hydropower system on the Ba River basin - Photo: Tuoi Tre newspaper documents

Proposal to supplement the responsibilities of the Minister, Provincial Chairman and lake owner

The Ministry also proposed to supplement the responsibility of the Chairman of the Provincial and Municipal People's Committees in directing functional agencies to coordinate with the People's Committees of communes and reservoir owners to review and develop coordination regulations to specifically implement measures to respond to flood situations in the area.

Supplement the responsibility of the Minister of Agriculture and Environment in deciding on the operation of reservoirs and directing localities to deploy response measures to rain and flood situations in the area when assigned by the Prime Minister to support localities in operation when rain and flood exceed the response capacity.

Supplementing the responsibility of the Minister of Industry and Trade to direct competent authorities to closely inspect and supervise the operation of hydroelectric reservoirs, especially in ensuring the safety of works and the safety of people downstream of reservoirs during periods of rain and floods in the basin.

Supplementing regulations on the responsibilities of reservoir owners, including monitoring meteorological and hydrological conditions. Implementing monitoring and forecasting regimes, providing information, data and reporting regimes to agencies, units and localities according to the provisions of this procedure and relevant agencies, organizations and individuals upon request.

At the same time, proactively calculate and develop operation and water regulation plans to ensure project safety, cut and reduce downstream floods, and propose reservoir operation plans to competent agencies and individuals according to regulations for consideration and decision.

Encourage hiring qualified and capable organizations and individuals to provide monitoring, forecasting and reservoir operation support services to improve the quality of reservoir forecasting and operation.

Back to topic

WISDOM

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-nong-nghiep-va-moi-truong-de-xuat-sua-quy-trinh-van-hanh-lien-ho-chua-o-mien-trung-20251203095751952.htm