Keeping an Eye on Reservoirs to Ensure Water Security

According to the figures of Natural Disaster Prevention and Relief Centre (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Vietnam currently has a system of over 3,000 reservoirs of different scale, among which there are such large reservoirs as Ho Ho, Ke Go in Ha Tinh province; Krong H’nang in Phu Yen province; An Khe, Kanak and Sesan 4 in Gia Lai province, etc. with capacity amounting to 10 million m3. These reservoirs are playing an important role in the society and economy of Vietnam, being responsible for supplying water for hydro power plants, irrigation and keep water from floods, etc. However, the monitoring and supervision of reservoirs in Vietnam is still obsolete and inaccurate.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai also emphasizes a fact that apart from large reservoirs, there exists a high risk of possible incidents in the system of over 3,000 reservoirs nationwide. More worryingly, many incidents occurred but administrative agencies did not know or only knew after they happened due to the lack of or paralysis of the alarming system.

 

Therefore, given the current context in which the climate undergoes complicated changes, especially the intensity in rainy and flood season, the application of information technology in monitoring the water level of reservoirs is being amongst key tasks for Vietnam. However, the uniform application has not been implemented on a large scale and is complicated in Vietnam.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Hai assesses that “Modernization of natural disaster and forecast fighting equipments aims at mitigating damages. With over 60 percent of its basin being located overseas, the activeness in collecting and discharging water in more than 2,000 reservoirs plays a very important role in national economy and life of people. Modernization of data collection task and warning provision will help local administrative agencies be active in controlling water and guaranteeing appropriate irrigation for farming production and drought and flood avoidance.”

 

On the other hand, Mr Hai believes that modernizing this data system to timely deal with natural disasters is of extreme importance since “Vietnam has 1-2 percent of its GDP lost to natural disasters.”

 

After successful experiment of tsumani alert system in Danang, the reservoir supervision data collection system and management software at Xuan Quan major station in Van Giang district, Hung Yen province was successfully operated at the end of July.

 

During its operation, the system will collect data to help administrative agencies at ministry level and local level have basic data for analysis, evaluation and decision making on water reservoirs and natural disaster prevention. The system will provide comprehensive information about water levels, rainfall, incoming volume and discharge volume, etc. and transfer such information to the Steering Committees on Storm and Flood Control at central and provincial level via the communication infrastructure of Viettel, the Army Telecommunications Corporation.

Mr Nguyen Van Quan, a member of the project, shares that in a short time, experts have developed software for monitoring water level at reservoirs. This software is capable of collecting data of water level, rainfall and output of reservoirs with high accuracy. The system will automatically collect parameters and then transfer such parameters to administrative agencies to aid them in providing directions on storm and flood prevention and fighting. In addition, the system will act as an effective instrument which facilitates easy and effective operation of reservoirs.

 

After the successful experiment at Xuan Quan drain, Vietnam will continue to install reservoir monitor systems at ten reservoirs located in Ha Tinh, Thua Thien Hue and Gia Lai provinces in August.