Proposal to change the phrase "discharge flood"
The People's Committee of Da Nang City has just sent a report to the Prime Minister on the damage caused by floods, and at the same time recommended a series of contents related to the operation and regulation of hydroelectric reservoirs upstream, mainly in the old Quang Nam province.
According to the report, the city proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment consider and submit to the Prime Minister to adjust a number of contents in the Vu Gia - Thu Bon River basin inter-reservoir operation process (processure 1865, issued in 2019).
Notably, Da Nang proposed to replace the phrase "flood discharge" with "operating regulation through deep spillways" to accurately reflect the technical nature of the lake regulation process. The change of terminology is to ensure consistency with actual operations, avoiding misunderstanding in conveying information to people.
The city also proposed updating some titles according to the 2023 Law on Civil Defense; adjusting the flood season from "1.9 - 15.12" to "1.9 - 31.12" to suit the extreme weather developments in recent years.
Add flexible operating scenarios
An important content is to propose adding an operating scenario in case the water flow to the lake exceeds the threshold, but the downstream water level is still low. Accordingly, allowing the lake owner to "low the water level or maintain the water level at a reasonable level", instead of only operating at hard thresholds, helps optimize flood cutting for downstream.
The city also proposed increasing the flood prevention capacity of reservoirs at the beginning of the rainy season a factor considered key to reducing flow pressure during heavy rains.
According to a representative of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Da Nang, in fact, the flood flow to the lakes this year is very large, while the capacity for flood prevention is still limited. Adjusting the process is necessary to improve the ability to protect downstream areas.
According to the statistics, during the flood on October 25-30, the water flow to the lakes on the Vu Gia River was more than 1.68 billion m3, while the maximum flood prevention capacity of A Vuong and Bung 4 lakes, Dak Mi was only more than 274 million m3 (16.3%).
On Thu Bon River, the flood amount is more than 906 million m3, but Song Tranh 2 Lake only has a flood prevention capacity of over 194 million m3 (21.4%).
This flood caused serious damage to many areas of Da Nang. The whole city recorded 15 deaths, 3 missing people, 117 injuries and 66 completely collapsed houses.
Traffic and irrigation infrastructure were severely damaged. The total initial damage is estimated at about 1,300 billion VND.
The City People's Committee believes that recent extreme developments show that updating the inter-reservoir operation process is very urgent to ensure the safety of life and property for people downstream.
