VietNamNet Bridge – Farmers in the central province of Quang Nam are concerned about the salinity intrusion which could destroy hundreds of hectares of rice fields.

 

 

Quang Nam’s people are now trying every possible method to prevent salty water and pump fresh water to rescue the fields.

Many pump stations in the locality have been left idle for days because of the high salinity of many river branches in the northern part of Quang Nam.

Luong Le Truc, a worker at Tu Cau Pump Station in Dien Ngoc Commune of Dien Ban District, said that salt water had penetrated rice fields sooner than expected.

Truc has to take river water samples every hour to test the salinity concentration. At 10 am on March 2, the testing showed a high concentration of 4.9 per thousand.

“With such a high salinity, the water will immediately kill rice,” he said, adding that the rice fields would be safe only if the salt concentration falls to below 0.8 per thousand.

“So we have to keep waiting until the salinity drops to the safely line,” he said.

According to Truc, saltwater appeared on January 23. Since then he has had to be at the station, trying to pump safe water to rice fields.

“The pumps run six to 20 hours a day only. The rice fields are seriously thirsty,” he said.

The same situation is occurring at the Cam Sa Pump Station in charge of providing water to 117 hectares of rice fields in Dien Nam Bac commune, and at Thanh Quyt Station in charge of 190 hectares of rice fields in Dien Ngoc, Dien Thang Trung and Dien Thang Bac communes.

The Quang Nam provincial authorities have decided to build a dam to temporarily prevent saltwater intrusion on the Vinh Dien River, a branch of Thu Bon River. 

The dam, about 100 meters far from Tu Cau Pump Station, is estimated to cost VND1.2 billion.

Vo Van Diem, deputy director of the Quang Nam provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, predicted that it would be challenging to ensure enough water for rice fields in 2015 because of the predicted bad weather.

The department has asked for cooperation from hydropower plants. A Vuong, Song Bung 4 hydropower plants on Vu Gia River have been asked to provide water at an average capacity of 40 cubic meters per second, for at least 15 hours a day.

Thien Nhien