Speed up dam repair and upgrade progress before storm season

The drainage system is regularly inspected to proactively respond to floods.

Currently, the province has 610 irrigation reservoirs, including 73 large reservoirs, 212 medium reservoirs and 325 small reservoirs. The dam system in Thanh Hoa plays a very important role in water regulation, natural disaster prevention and ensuring agricultural production. However, through review and assessment, there are over 70 reservoirs in a state of degradation, needing to be repaired and upgraded to ensure the safety of the works.

In mountainous districts such as Thuong Xuan, Quan Son, Nhu Xuan, Muong Lat, Cam Thuy... many lakes with earthen dams have leaked, the dam roof has been eroded, the water intake culverts are severely damaged, and the regulating valves are not operating effectively. These problems pose a potential risk of incidents during the rainy season, especially the risk of dam breakage, causing localized flooding and directly affecting people's lives and property.

Faced with the above situation, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested departments, branches, units and localities to quickly inspect and handle damaged areas, and at the same time develop a plan to ensure dam safety during the 2025 flood season. Along with that, the province also directed to speed up the construction progress at projects that are in the stage of renovation, upgrading, repair and periodic maintenance; absolutely requiring no construction of major items during the rainy season to avoid risks to quality and safety.

By the end of May 2025, nearly 40 dam projects were under construction. Many key projects have been completed or reached over 80% of the volume such as Cua Trat Lake (Tho Xuan), Thung Bang (Cam Thuy), Mau Lam (Nhu Thanh) ... contributing to consolidating water storage capacity and enhancing flood regulation. Completing these projects early before the rainy season not only improves the safety of the projects but also creates favorable conditions for agricultural production in the upcoming summer and winter crops. However, many projects are still facing difficulties during construction. Some projects have only reached 40-50% of the construction volume and are behind schedule due to many reasons such as problems in site clearance, adjustment of technical design documents, slow funding or being affected by adverse weather in the first months of the year.

Faced with this situation, the province has issued many documents urging and requesting investors and construction units to concentrate resources, work overtime, and take advantage of favorable weather to speed up progress. Along with that, departments, branches and local authorities have also been assigned the task of coordinating to remove difficulties and quickly handle problems related to investment procedures, technical documents, capital and site clearance.

The repair and upgrading of dams not only serves the immediate need for disaster prevention and control but also has long-term significance in protecting infrastructure assets and improving the efficiency of water storage and use. In particular, in the context of climate change and increasingly severe droughts, safe and stable reservoirs will be a solid "shield" to protect people and support sustainable agricultural economic development. However, to achieve the set goals, in addition to the determination of the government and contractors, consensus and sharing from the people in site clearance, relocation of auxiliary works and coordination of construction supervision are needed.

With the proactive spirit of “prevention is the main thing” and “fighting is necessary”, accelerating the progress of dam repair and upgrading projects during the peak period before the storm season is expected to contribute to improving the province’s natural disaster prevention capacity, protecting people’s lives and property, and gradually perfecting the irrigation system in a sustainable direction, adapting to climate change.

Article and photos: Chi Pham

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/day-nhanh-tien-do-sua-chua-nang-cap-nbsp-ho-dap-truoc-mua-mua-bao-251391.htm