Several hydropower reservoirs in Da Nang's mountain districts are critically low in what is normally the peak of the rainy and flood season, Tuoi Tre News reported on the night of October 27. The reservoirs named as facing severe shortages are Song Tranh 2, Dak Mi 4, A Vuong and Song Bung 4. Some levels are only a few dozen centimetres above dead storage, the point below which water cannot be released for generation.
Nguyen Thanh Binh, deputy general director of Dak Mi Hydropower JSC, told the paper that Dak Mi 4 stands about 70 centimetres above dead storage. Inflows have dropped sharply and cannot meet the needs of its generating units. At Song Tranh 2, the level on October 27 was 148 metres above sea level, 27 metres below its normal full supply level of 175 metres.
Vu Duc Toan, director of Song Tranh Hydropower Company, said rainfall has been unusually low this year and inflows are well below expectations. He said the rainy season is not over and the company hopes for more rain in the coming months.
Truong Xuan Ty, deputy director of the city Department of Agriculture and Environment, called the mid-season depletion unusual and linked it to El Niño. He said two or three heavy rain spells could still arrive in late October and November, but that recovery depends on the actual weather. The department is monitoring rainfall, river flows and reservoir levels.
Figures from the central regional hydrometeorological centre, cited in the report, show that between September 26 and October 25 temperatures ran 0.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above the long-term average. Rainfall over the same period was 20 to 40 percent below average.
The article raises concern about water storage heading into the 2027 dry season, but gives no quantitative forecast. Reservoir levels will depend on how much rain falls in the last days of October and in November.
Sources
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