Authorities in Quảng Ninh Province are
worried over a decline in water levels at major reservoirs, which have been
drying up due to droughts brought on by hot weather and a lack of rain. As a
result, a number of households in the province have faced water shortages. Last
month, water levels at the Thác Nhồng dam fell 20-30cm below the overflow
threshold – the lowest point ever recorded – which was insufficient to provide
water for the Đồng Ho Water Treatment Plant in Hoành Bồ District. At the same
time, water levels at the Cao Vân Reservoir (which has a water volume of 10.8
million cu.m) in the same district fell to the lowest point since the beginning
of the year, which was only 25.8m from the bottom of the reservoir. The Mắt
Rồng Reservoir in Vân Đồn District is facing the same situation, and so is a
major shallow groundwater source called Lộ 12 in the district. Previously, this
groundwater source provided some 2,000cu.m of water per day for the Vân Đồn
Water Treatment Plant and the district’s residents. However, its capacity has
recently decreased to 720cu.m per day, making up for only two thirds of its
previous capacity. The water shortage has become so severe that recent heavy
rains on June 6 and 7, and those taking place at the end of May, did little to
help, according to local authorities. Trịnh Văn Bình, Deputy Director of the
Quảng Ninh Clean Water Joint Stock Company, said the shortage was caused by
water demand spikes during hot days from local residents, and from a large
number of tourists coming to Vân Đồn District and the eastern area of Hạ Long
City for vacations. To improve the situation, the company simultaneously
started two water-related projects on June 2, which Bình said would ensure
water supplies for the Vân Đồn District even during long droughts. The first
project will pump water on a 4.3km path from Cẩm Phả City to the district’s
Đông Xá Commune to join its water supply network, which was completed on
Thursday evening. The second project will transport water on a 6.3km path from
the Khe Mai Reservoir in the district’s Đoàn Kết Commune to provide water for
the Cái Rồng Reservoir, which will then be filtered and provide to the whole
district. It is expected to be complete by the end of this month. The company
has also installed extra turbochargers at the Yên Lập Water Treatment Plant to
provide more water for Bãi Cháy beach in Hạ Long City and avoid water shortages
for households on hills and mountains. Vũ Văn Diện, vice chairman of the
province’s People’s Committee, has assigned the province’s Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development to collaborate with the company to complete
technical designs for a renovation project of the Cao Vân Reservoir by October,
and complete bidding in the fourth quarter of the year so that the project can
start in the dry season of next year.
The
other side of development
The objective causes of water shortage in the
province have been discovered and worked on. However, local residents are
concerned that several airport, traffic infrastructure and luxury resort
projects – which would supposedly create a major socio-economic breakthrough
for the province – are producing negative impacts on water resources and
underground water, and leading to water exhaustion at the reservoirs. Water
experts are concerned about the construction of a road connecting the Ba Chẽ
District to a ring road to the north of Hạ Long City. The project is still in
its infancy, but if it is implemented, clearance of dozens of hectares of
primary forests in the Đồng Sơn - Kỳ Thượng National Nature Reserve in Hoành Bồ
District will be required, which will disrupt the ecosystem here, damage water
resources and cause sedimentation in the 10.8 million cu.m Cao Vân Reservoir. Once
the reservoir’s water is drained, water scarcity will occur in the districts of
Cẩm Phả, Vân Đồn and the eastern area of Hạ Long City where some 60 per cent of
the total number of the province’s households reside. Local residents are
hoping that the authorities will be cautious and carefully review the negative
impacts that those projects will have on the province’s water resources,
especially those planned to take place near the watersheds.
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