Round Abyss, lush green and warm

(QBĐT) - For nearly half a century, Vuc Tron irrigation reservoir (Quang Trach) has been tirelessly providing fresh water, turning barren lands and wild grass into lush green rice fields. And today, Vuc Tron continues to carry out a new mission, providing fresh water for Quang Trach Power Center, serving the cause of industrialization and modernization of the homeland and country...

Give up the "village" to the round abyss

More than 40 years ago, tens of thousands of people were present on the barren land south of Hoanh Son range (Quang Trach) to work together to "break rocks and dig soil" to block the Loan River, building the Vuc Tron reservoir - the largest irrigation project in Quang Binh at that time (at that time it was Binh Tri Thien province).

Nearly 80 years old, Mr. Dinh Xuan Phu (born in 1945), former Director of the Irrigation Works Exploitation Company, former Head of the Construction Board of Vuc Tron Irrigation Lake, still enthusiastically talked to us about the days when he and tens of thousands of people "digged the ground and filled the river" on this irrigation work. More than 40 years have passed, but in his memory, the sound of shovels and hoes, the sound of singing and dancing still resounds like yesterday.

Mr. Phu said that in the years after the country was unified, people living on the arid land of Quang Trach district (old) always wished for an irrigation system to bring water to the fields where they could only grow cassava and sweet potatoes all year round due to drought. According to the people's wishes, during the period 1976-1989, in Binh Tri Thien province, many large irrigation projects were invested, including the Vuc Tron irrigation lake (started in 1980, completed in 1986).

“At that time, the country was still facing difficulties, there were no machines, and the construction of irrigation works mainly relied on human labor. To ensure the construction was on schedule, tens of thousands of people from various localities were mobilized. At the peak of the Vuc Tron irrigation construction site, there could be up to 12,000 people, and on average, there were about 5,000-6,000 people,” Mr. Phu shared.

Mrs. Bui Thi Tuyet (born in 1961, in Quang Hung commune), one of the earliest young people to be present at this great construction site, recalls: “Nearly half a century has passed, but the image of the Vuc Tron irrigation construction site that day is still as if it were yesterday. Building the lake at that time was very difficult and arduous. Meals were not enough, only potatoes, cassava mixed with noodles, everyone's hands were calloused but they were always excited, full of competitive spirit, working and singing loudly throughout the area”.

Located upstream, Quang Hop commune does not directly benefit from the Vuc Tron irrigation reservoir. However, to implement the project, two villages of the commune, Hop Trung and Hop Ha, had to be relocated.

Telling this story, Chairman of Quang Hop Commune People's Committee Bui Hai Luu shared: "When the construction of Vuc Tron Lake was implemented, I was still very young, but when my parents told me, the people of Quang Hop in general, and the two villages of Hop Trung and Hop Ha in particular, were very sympathetic and supportive. They decided to give up their land and move the village to a new place, all for the development of their homeland."

Contribute to building the homeland

After 6 years of construction with the spirit of "Eating rice with salt is fine/Working on irrigation is hard now, happy later" , tens of thousands of people, despite the lack of food and drink, rice mixed with cassava and sweet potatoes was not enough to satisfy their hunger, but still worked enthusiastically, creating the Vuc Tron irrigation reservoir project.

Guangzhou clean water plant is built next to Vuc Tron lake.

In 1986, the Vuc Tron lake project was completed, with a capacity of more than 50 million ^m3 , creating a breakthrough to promote the agricultural economy of Quang Trach district, turning arid lands that could only grow cassava and potatoes all year round into double-crop rice fields, eliminating hunger and poverty for tens of thousands of people in the downstream areas of the district (including Ba Don town later).

Talking about the great Vuc Tron irrigation project, Vice Chairman of Quang Trach District People's Committee Pham Minh Canh shared: "My hometown is in Quang Xuan commune, I am a generation that grew up after the country's reunification, but according to the stories of my parents and grandparents, the land in the communes downstream of Vuc Tron lake used to be all "dry fields, white sand".

The people here, who have been working hard for generations on fields that can only grow cassava and sweet potatoes, always have a burning dream of having enough water to grow rice, to have meals that do not require cassava or sweet potatoes. And when the Vuc Tron irrigation reservoir project was completed, that seemingly far-fetched dream became a reality, with many seasons of golden rice full of flowers and heavy grains, not in vain.

Mr. Tran Hong Quang, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director of Quang Binh Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited (the unit operating and exploiting Vuc Tron Lake) shared: Vuc Tron Lake currently has a capacity of 53.123 million ^m3 , ranking 3rd in the province, after Rao Da Lake and An Ma Lake. Vuc Tron is providing irrigation water for more than 2,000 hectares of land, including more than 1,500 hectares of rice, more than 500 hectares of crops and aquaculture. Along with that, Vuc Tron Lake is also providing domestic water for the Quang Chau Clean Water Plant, with a capacity of 10,000 ^m3 /day and night (3.65 million ^m3 /year) and supplying to Quang Trach I Thermal Power Plant with an exploitation flow of 9,600 ^m3 /day and night (about 2.6 million m3 /year). Currently, Vuc Tron Lake is being planned and its technical drawings are being appraised to repair and upgrade the reservoir capacity to more than 64.4 million ^m3 .

According to Mr. Pham Minh Canh, not only stopping at agriculture , today Vuc Tron Lake also has a new "responsibility", which is to provide water for daily life, serving industry, small-scale industry, environment, and developing eco-tourism. Currently, Vuc Tron Lake has the Guangzhou Clean Water Plant and the Fresh Water Supply Plant for Quang Trach Power Center.

Mr. Nguyen Hao Quang, Director of Biwase Quang Binh Company (the unit that exploits and operates the Quang Chau Clean Water Plant) said that from the cool water source of Vuc Tron Lake, through the modern and advanced technology of the plant, people in Quang Trach District and Ba Don Town have been provided with clean, safe water for their health, contributing to improving the quality of life.

Nearly half a century has passed, Vuc Tron irrigation lake is still tirelessly providing cool water, providing fields and villages that are becoming more and more prosperous and beautiful. In particular, by providing fresh water for Hon La Economic Zone, Quang Trach Power Center, Vuc Tron lake is making a great contribution to the industrialization and modernization of the homeland and the country. And in this new development journey, today's and future generations will never forget and always be grateful to the generations of ancestors who created works that bear the mark of the times like Vuc Tron.

Phan Phuong

Source: https://www.baoquangbinh.vn/phong-su/202409/vuc-tron-xanh-muot-mau-am-no-2221154/