Quang Tri (VNS/VNA) - Prolonged hot weather in the central region hascaused low water levels in reservoirs and dams, seriously affectingagricultural production and the daily lives of local residents.

Many reservoirs in the central province of Quang Tri have recorded recedingwater levels at less than 35 percent of their storage capacity, threateningcrops on nearly 2,500ha of land.

Tran Hong Quang, director of Quang Binh Irrigation One-member Limited Company,said the water level at irrigation works in Quang Binh province has fallen to arecord low. Only three out of 17 reservoirs were at capacity and the rest weresitting at 40-50 percent of storage capacity, meaning that nearly 1,700ha ofsummer-autumn rice lacked water, he said.

Thua Thien-Hue province faces a similar problem. More than 130ha ofsummer-autumn rice was seriously damaged by the drought.

In addition to having 13,000ha of agricultural land affected by the drought,the central province of Quang Nam has also been hit by salt intrusion.

Due to ongoing drought, hydropower plants cut their power generation late lastmonth.

In Phu My district of Binh Dinh province, dozens of hectares of rice havewithered. Farmers have had to cut their living rice plants to feed cattle andhave collected dead plants for cooking.

“Because irrigation water is not available and it has not rained, we can onlywatch as our rice plants wilt and die. We have no choice but rent a machine toclean up the fields,” Pham Kim Anh, a resident of My Chau commune’s Van An village,told Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

Nguyen Van Hong, deputy head of Phu My district’s Agricultural and RuralDevelopment Division, said 40 out of 45 reservoirs have dried up. Localauthorities have had to pump water from reservoirs’ dead storage capacity (thevolume below which water cannot be release from the dam) to rescue drought-hitrice growing areas.

Tran Chau, deputy chairman of the Binh Dinh provincial People's Committee, saidPhu My district has also seen the fresh water shortage trouble local people. Itwas reported that people have been forced to pay up to 150,000 VND per cubicmetre of fresh water.

The provincial People’s Committee has directed the police and border guards tobring water tanks to people, he said.

In Quang Ngai, more than 1,500ha of rice and cash crops have dried up.

Pham Hong Nguyen, director of of Binh Sơn district’s Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Division, said there has been no rain in a number of communes inthe district since February.

To cope with the situation, the local authority has spent nearly 1.1 billion VND(47,200 USD) to help local residents drill wells or purchase fuel to pumpwater. The funds have also been used to dredge canals.

The Quang Tri People’s Committee has proposed the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development and the Ministry of Finance ask the Prime Minister's petitionto grant 115 billion VND (4.9 million USD) in emergency response funds to savecrops.

Da Nang has called on its residents to save water during the shortage. ThePeople’s Committee of Hoa Vang district has collaborated with irrigationmanagement companies to step up measures to cope with the scarcity, includingrestructuring plants. - VNS/VNA