Proactively ensure reservoir safety before the storm season

(GLO)- From now until the end of 2025, the eastern part of the province will enter the peak of storms and floods. Local authorities will coordinate with reservoir management units to synchronously deploy drastic solutions to ensure absolute safety for the dam system and downstream areas.

Strengthen inspection and supervision

Currently, the entire eastern region of the province has 164 reservoirs, including 62 large reservoirs, 37 medium reservoirs and 65 small reservoirs. Of these, 36 reservoirs are installed with regulating gates, the majority of the rest use free spillways, which pose a potential safety risk if not regularly inspected and reinforced. Many reservoirs were built a long time ago and are degraded with signs of water seepage, roof slides and damaged spillways.

Workers of Dinh Binh Irrigation Enterprise check and repair machinery and equipment to operate the project effectively. Photo: T. Loi

In addition, the monitoring and warning system still has many limitations. Of the 36 lakes with sluice gates, only 11 lakes are connected to hydrometeorological data; 7 lakes have been installed with surveillance cameras, while the safety warning system is only available in 4/68 large lakes.

The province also does not have integrated software to support comprehensive operations and monitoring, making it difficult to coordinate incident handling. Realizing this, the Department of Agriculture and Environment and localities have proactively inspected and assessed the current situation, requiring management units to urgently develop plans to ensure dam safety during the rainy and stormy season to submit to competent authorities for approval.

Mr. Ngo Vinh Khanh - Head of the Irrigation Sub-Department (Department of Agriculture and Environment) - said: "We request management units to arrange forces on duty 24/7 during the peak of storms and floods; increase inspection of the current status of works, monitor weather developments and proactively operate flood discharge appropriately to avoid passive incidents."

In particular, among the 63 lakes managed by Binh Dinh Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited, some lakes such as Thach Khe (Hoai An commune), Hoc Mit (Phu My commune), Tan Thang (Cat Tien commune) are being closely monitored due to signs of water seepage and roof sliding. The company has classified the safety level of each lake, at the same time increased technical supervision and closely coordinated with specialized agencies to handle timely issues. Currently, 32 lakes are at a safe level, the rest are basically safe.

Mr. Ho Nguyen Si - Chairman and Director of the Company - shared: "We consider dam safety as a top priority, regularly upgrade the operational monitoring system, install downstream warning equipment and coordinate propaganda to raise awareness among people."

Proactive response

Since 2016, 40 reservoirs have been repaired and upgraded and 2 new reservoirs have been built to increase water storage capacity and ensure safety of the works against unusual weather conditions. Currently, 14 large reservoirs have emergency response plans approved by the Provincial People's Committee, such as Dinh Binh (Vinh Thanh commune), My Duc (An Hao commune), Dong Mit (An Vinh commune)...

The remaining lakes are also being guided to complete response plans suitable to the actual conditions of each locality. Dinh Binh Lake, with the largest capacity in the Eastern region (over 226 million m³) is being strictly operated on a 24/7 basis.

Mr. Le Van Que - Director of Dinh Binh Irrigation Enterprise - said: "Before this year's rainy and stormy season, we checked the quality of the project, developed a natural disaster response plan, and inspected, maintained, and repaired equipment and operating machinery, ensuring safety for the project and people."

Engineers of Dinh Binh Irrigation Enterprise check the automatic water level measuring system of Dinh Binh Lake. Photo: T.Loi

The province's Disaster Management Software is continuing to be improved and developed, thereby improving the efficiency of operation, coordination and information sharing among relevant units, helping to proactively handle incidents. In addition, localities promote the role of managing and monitoring reservoirs, especially those managed by communes. Through review, 10/99 reservoirs managed by communes were assessed to be at high risk of insecurity and were directed to limit water storage and closely monitor. Typically, Bau Sen reservoir (Binh Phu commune) was asked to stop storing water and proposed to be repaired from the Natural Disaster Prevention Fund.

Mr. Ly Kim Dinh - Chairman of Binh Phu Commune People's Committee - informed: "Currently, Bau Sen Lake has seriously degraded, the commune has requested the lake management unit to closely monitor the weather situation and let water flow freely through the spillway. At the same time, specialized forces will be on duty 24/24 hours during the rainy season to promptly handle any incidents."

According to Mr. Vu Ngoc An, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, with the close direction of the province and close coordination between management units, local authorities and people, the work of ensuring reservoir safety during the 2025 storm season is being well controlled, contributing to protecting the safety of works, lives and property of people in the downstream area.

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/chu-dong-dam-bao-an-toan-ho-chua-truoc-mua-mua-bao-post569621.html