Water levels in reservoirs are low.

While renting a tiller, Ms. Hoang Thi Hien in Hamlet 2, Nghi Hung Commune (Nghi Loc) took the opportunity to clear the fields and take care of the seedlings to prepare for spring rice planting. This year, the water source has been difficult since the beginning of the season, and there has been no canal water yet, so she took advantage of the rain the day before to go to the field to rent a tiller.

Ms. Hien shared: We have to "steal water" from the beginning of the season, otherwise the next day when everyone is working, there will not be enough water to prepare the land. This year there is little rain, so there is very little water in the lake. The family has 5 sao of rice, on January 10th, she will sow 3 sao directly, and the 2 sao of deeper land will be planted with seedlings from January 20th.

With a capacity of 5.4 million ^m3 , Khe Go reservoir (Nghi Loc) serves irrigation for 270 - 300 hectares of rice in Nghi Lam commune, providing water for 3 pumping stations in the area. If every year, Khe Go reservoir is full of water after a flood season, this year, the water level in the lake is only over 60%.

According to Mr. Ngo Tri Vinh - Head of the Lake Management Board, this situation has only returned since 2018. Irrigation water sources can be difficult right from the spring crop, not to mention summer-autumn crop production. If in previous years, the current water level has reached the designed overflow of 22.2m, this year it has only reached 35 - 36% compared to last year.

Nghi Lam Commune (Nghi Loc) has 500 hectares of rice and 100 hectares of other crops, of which nearly 300 hectares use water from Khe Go Lake, the entire rice area is sown directly. Last summer-autumn crop, due to drought, this locality was forced to restructure 100 hectares of rice land to grow corn, however, only more than 30 hectares were planted, because even switching to corn did not have enough water to grow.

According to Ms. Le Thi Duyen - an agricultural officer of the commune, due to the semi-mountainous terrain, the canal system leading from the lake is degraded and leaking, causing both water loss and slow flow, so each time the lake opens water, it takes 10 - 15 days to irrigate the entire area. If there is no short-term rain or the rainfall is too low, Nghi Lam commune will likely have to reduce about 200 hectares of summer-autumn rice.

In Nghi Loc district, there are 7 reservoirs, including Khe Xiem, Nghi Cong, Khe Quanh, Khe Go... irrigating 1,074 hectares of rice. Not only Khe Go, but other lakes are also in a similar situation, the amount of water stored is much lower than in previous years. With a capacity of 3 million ^m3 , Khe Xiem lake irrigates 250 hectares of rice in Nghi Loc district, the amount of water stored in the lake up to this point has only reached half of the design capacity. It can be said that it has been many years since the lake's water source has dried up by half right at the beginning of the winter-spring crop like now.

Mr. Pham The Phi - Head of Technical Department, Nam Irrigation One Member Limited Liability Company is worried: The rainfall in the system in 2023 is only half that of 2022. In the area managed by the company, there are 13 lakes and dams, irrigating nearly 4,000 hectares of rice. If every year all the lakes are full of water after the flood season, this year only 7 lakes are full of water, the remaining 6 lakes are only 40 - 60% of their capacity. Therefore, 2023 is forecasted to be an extremely difficult year due to drought.

This year, the water source from lakes and dams can only ensure spring crop production. Summer-autumn crop production will be very difficult. Even without additional rain, many areas will not be able to be irrigated.

Mr. Pham The Phi - Head of Technical Department, Nam Thuy Loi One Member Limited Liability Company

Proactive production planning

In Dien Chau district, large reservoirs managed by the Northern Irrigation Company, namely Xuan Duong, Bau Da-Ma To and Dinh Du lakes, also have lower water levels than in previous years, reaching only 70-85% of their designed capacity. These are all large reservoirs with a capacity of over 9 million ^m3 /reservoir, irrigating more than 1,000 hectares of rice in Dien Chau district.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hanh - Director of Dien Chau Irrigation Enterprise said: The rainfall in the area in 2023 only reached 690 mm/average rainfall of 1,600 mm. Every year, even though the reservoirs are full of water, summer-autumn production often lacks water in Dien Lam, Dien Phu, Dien Loc communes... Along with developing a reasonable and economical irrigation plan, we also recommend that the district proactively change the crop structure in the face of the possibility of severe drought in the summer-autumn crop.

Nghe An has 1,061 reservoirs, up to now, more than half of them have insufficient capacity, the number of reservoirs full of water is much less than in previous years, especially of the 959 reservoirs managed by the locality, more than 100 lakes and dams have a capacity of only 40-70% of the design capacity.

According to Mr. Nguyen Truong Thanh - Head of the Irrigation Sub-Department: Not only is there a difficulty in water resources, but irrigation for production is also difficult due to many degraded works, the canal system still has many shortcomings causing water loss and waste. Therefore, not only saving water for the summer-autumn crop - the season, we also need to have a plan to supply water and prevent drought right from the upcoming spring crop.