Da Nang has asked management boards of two hydro-power plants of A Vuong and Dak Mi 4 to discharge at least 8.2 million cubic metres from reservoirs to save the city from a serious water shortage that has lasted several days.

Da Nang has asked management boards of two hydro-power plants of A Vuong and Dak Mi 4 to discharge at least 8.2 million cubic metres from reservoirs to save the city from a serious water shortage that has lasted several days.

Vice chairman of the city’s people’s committee, Dang Viet Dung spoke at a meeting with local departments and relevant agencies yesterday, stressing that dealing with the water shortage is a top priority.

Mr Dung said urgent actions must be made within 24 hours as the city’s water supply could only meet 70 per cent of demand due to high salinity of the Cau Do River – the main source of fresh water for 1 million residents and tourists.

The city’s department of natural resources and environment said the salinity in the Cau Do River rose from 2,000mg per litre to 4,474mg per litre between February and August, and the Cau Do water plant could not pump water from the river for the city’s fresh water system.

Dang Nguyen Thuc Anh, an official from the department, said only water discharged from reservoirs of the two hydro-power plants A Vuong and Dak Mi 4 could reduce salinity for Da Nang as water in reservoirs of the Bung River and Tranh River were at an extremely low level.

“We asked the two hydro-power plants – A Vuong and Dak Mi 4 – to moderate their operations in supplying 8.2 million cubic metres for the Cau Do water plant. This could help reduce salinity in the Cau Do River to less than 1,000mg per litre – the minimum for fresh water processing for the city’s residents,” Anh said.

“The two reservoirs would still contain 45.25 million cubic metres for power generation and save Da Nang from a terrible lack of fresh water,” she said.

She added the Dak Mi 4 hydro-power plant should stop generating power as rain would come later in the rainy season this year.

Representatives of the two hydro-power plants agreed to discharge water at a speed of 70 cubic metres per second from A Vuong, and 25 cubic metres per second from Dak Mi 4 within a day.

Ho Minh Nam, deputy general director of the Da Nang Water Supply company (DAWACO) said water supply had to be cut alternately in districts of Thanh Khe, Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son as the Cau Do water plant only supplies 200,000 cubic metres – 60 per cent of the city’s demand – each day.

Fire trucks and tankers were called to transport water to hospitals and some downtown residential areas, Nam said.

However, the city would experience a lack of water until mid-September due to delayed rain and reservoirs of hydropower plants, including Song Tranh 2; Dak Mi 4; Song Bung 4, 5 and 6; and A Vuong, still collecting water from upstream rivers to generate power. It means that water flow into the basin of the Cau Do River will be restricted.

Meanwhile, the city has yet to start the construction of key water plants – Hoa Trung and Hoa Lien – in adding 250,000 cubic metres of clean water each day in the near future.

Water shortages in Da Nang occurred in several years ago, resulting from forest destruction, low rainfall and the operation of hydropower plants in the Vu Gia–Thu Bon river system covering Quang Nam and Da Nang.

In March 2019, the ministry of natural resources and environment also asked the upstream hydropower plants to adjust waster released from reservoirs to ease the water shortage in Da Nang.

(Source: VNS/ DA NANG Today)