Vietnam’s Hoa Binh and Thac Ba hydroelectric plants have opened their sluice gates to help avert a water shortage crisis caused by the Hong river’s level reaching a record low.
The river’s water level had gone as low as 1.46m, the lowest since 1902. This has been a problem for farmers, who had hoped to cultivate 644,000ha of rice fields in the northern provinces but still had 27,4000ha of rice paddies waiting for water.
But with the extra water from the dams, the level was raised by between 0.5 to 0.8m. The dams will need to continuously release approximately 1000m3/sec in order to sustain a desirable water level of about 2.3m.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has reportedly asked the Vietnamese government for US$4.7M to provide for provinces afflicted by the drought.