According to the investigation of Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, currently in Ha Tinh province, there are many degraded lakes and dams, posing a potential risk of unsafety when the 2026 rainy and flood season is approaching.
In which, some lakes and dams are seriously degraded such as: Khe Hao lake in Hong Loc commune; Tau Voi lake in Vung Ang ward; Cao Son lake in Co Dam commune; Da Bac lake in Nam Hong Linh ward; Am lake in Vu Quang commune; Nham Xa dam in Nam Hong Linh ward; Nha Quan dam in Huong Xuan commune...
Leaders of localities and units with degraded and potentially unsafe reservoirs and dams all hope that the province and central government will allocate funds to promptly overcome and repair to ensure safety, promote the function of storing water, serving irrigation and flood control for downstream areas in the rainy and flood season.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Ha Tinh is a province with harsh natural conditions, often heavily affected by natural disasters and storms.
Currently, there are 348 dams and irrigation water reservoirs in the province, with a storage capacity of over 1.6 billion m3 of water, of which 324 reservoirs have a capacity of 50,000 m3 or more.
Every year, the dam and reservoir system ensures irrigation water supply for production for more than 58,000 hectares of rice and dry crops, and at the same time provides water for industrial production, handicrafts, trade, services, tourism and people's lives, aquaculture, contributing to regulating and reducing floods for downstream areas and improving the ecological environment.
However, most of the reservoirs in Ha Tinh were invested and built before 1975, and have been put into operation and exploitation for over 50 years, especially dams and reservoirs with medium and small capacity have now been damaged and seriously degraded, posing a potential safety risk threatening the lives and property of people in the downstream area.
The reason is that the projects have been invested in for a long time in conditions where technology, machinery, equipment and techniques are still outdated, along with a long-term exploitation process, often affected by climate change, natural disasters, storms and floods, and lack of resources for maintenance and repair.
In the past time, with the attention and support of the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Ministry of Finance, international organizations and local efforts, from 2020 to now, 35 irrigation reservoirs have been repaired and upgraded with a total cost of over 350 billion VND, contributing to improving the capacity of the project and ensuring safety in exploitation and operation.
However, the results of the current status review of the whole province show that there are still 113 dams and irrigation reservoirs that are damaged and degraded, posing a risk of unsafety, but there are no resources to invest in repair and upgrade.
Among them, many projects are heavily damaged, with a high risk of unsafety, requiring urgent remedial solutions, otherwise there will be a high risk of construction incidents, immediately affecting the safety of lives and property of people and infrastructure in downstream areas.
To ensure the safety of dams and irrigation reservoirs and protect land, property and lives of people in downstream areas during the rainy and flood season of 2026 and the following years, Ha Tinh province needs to allocate 2,200 billion VND to invest in repairing and upgrading dams and irrigation reservoirs in the area.
However, due to limited and difficult funding, it is expected that in the near future, Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee will have a document proposing to the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, and the Ministry of Finance to request financial support for this locality to repair heavily damaged lakes and dams that are at risk of unsafety.
