ĐÀ NẲNG — Đà Nẵng will speed up the construction of key water plants – the Cầu Đỏ, Hòa Trung and Hòa Liên – in order to supply 250,000 cubic metres of clean water each day by 2019-2020.

The city’s construction department made the announcement yesterday, stating that construction plans have been approved to commence from early 2019.

Head of the department’s infrastructure board, Võ Tấn Hà, said these water plants were designed to ease the shortage of water during the dry season due to high salinity at the Cầu Đỏ water plant – the city’s major water supply.

Hà said this year’s rainy season witnessed a serious lack of clean water in early November when the salinity in the Cầu Đỏ River rose alarmingly from 372mg per litre to 4,374mg per litre.

Meanwhile, water discharged from reservoirs of the two hydro-power plants A Vương and Đắk Mi 4 upstream could only reduce salinity slightly.

Hà said the Đà Nẵng Water Supply company (DAWACO) has been operating its An Trạch pumping station 24 hours a day to dilute the water since early November, but the pumping station could only supply 70 per cent capacity of Cầu Đỏ water plant.

“The Cầu Đỏ water plant lacks at least 70,000 cubic metres of clean water to supply the city’s water system, so water flow was slow and limited in Ngũ Hành Sơn, Sơn Trà and Liên Chiểu districts,” Hà said, adding that households living at the end of the water system would have limited clean water for several days.

“The city also urged the two hydro-power plants to release more water downstream to improve the fresh water source for Đà Nẵng,” he said.

Hà said the city also plans to upgrade its pipes and install more high-pressure pumps to speed up water flow to residential quarters.

According to the department, Cầu Đỏ water plant would increase its capacity by 60,000 cubic metres each day in the first phase from March of 2019, before doubling by a further 60,000 cubic metres by 2020.

The department will upgrade Hòa Trung water plant to supply 10,000 cubic metres of clean water each day by March 2019.

Hà said the city is seeking funds to construct Hòa Liên water plant with a designed capacity of 120,000 cubic metres each day in the first phase, and the plant will be operational in 2020.

General director of Dawaco, Hồ Hương, said the reduction of salinity in the Cầu Đỏ River was mainly due to the discharge from the two hydro-power plants and the salinity often increase when reservoirs lack water during this year’s rainy season.

Hương said the city should speed up construction of Hòa Liên water plant to resolve the shortage of clean water in the city.

A source from the ministry of natural resources and environment said the central region saw low rainfall in the rainy season this year (between October and April).

Residents in seven districts of Đà Nẵng have lacked clean water due to climate change, forest destruction, low rainfall and the operation of hydropower plants in the Vu Gia–Thu Bồn river system covering Quảng Nam and Đà Nẵng.

According to Dawaco, the Cầu Đỏ water plant collects 200,000 cubic metres of water from Cầu Đỏ River to provide clean water for the city’s population.

Meanwhile, reservoirs of hydropower plants, including Sông Tranh 2; Đắk Mi 4; Sông Bung 4,5 and 6; and A Vương, collect water from the rivers to generate power, thus restricting the water flow into the basin of the Cầu Đỏ river.

The ministry of natural resources and environment has asked the upstream hydropower plants to adjust waster released from reservoirs to ease the water shortage in Đà Nẵng. — VNS