Authorities have ignored the adverse consequences of hydroelectricity power projects, which bring disorder to the environment and negatively affect people.

The Central Highlands region of Vietnam, which includes provinces such as Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, and parts of Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen, has encountered a troubling situation. The Vu Gia River has been depleted by hydroelectricity power plant Dak Mi 4, causing a drought to Quang Nam Province and Da Nang, and Ba River in Gia Lai is now exhausted due to the An Khe – Ka Nak plant.

Yet another similar power plant in the region is to accumulate water soon, adding more devastation and drought to the environment.

The upper Kon Tum hydroelectricity power plant

Rivers Dak Snghe and Dak Pla will become the latest victims as the upper Kon Tum hydroelectricity power plant goes into operation. The plant has a reservoir of 145 million cubic meters, generating an electricity capacity of 220MW.

Dak Snghe is the main river running through the Kon Tum highland at a height of 1,700 meters above sea level and providing water to Kon Plong and Kon Ray districts as well as Kon Tum.

According to the technical design, water from Dak Snghe River will be redirected to Tra Khuc River, leaving the section of Dak Snghe River after the plant and its connecting river, Dak Bla, to dry up.

The situation is not a surprising piece of news to authorities, as they were warned of the adverse impact before the construction of the plants.

With the exhaustion of Dak Bla River, residential areas in Kon Tum and other districts will see a scarcity of water used for daily activities and cultivation.

In addition, a section of 20km of Srepok River will also be dried up thanks to the upper Kon Tum plant. That means the death of Yok Don National Park in the area.

Accompanying consequences are the deaths of streams Wer, Ea Tul, Ea Mot, Ea Ndraik, Dak Hua, and Jeng Lanh, as well as the iconic seven-stage waterfall Pongour, which is a tourism hotspot in the Central Highlands.

Dr. Bao Huy from Tay Nguyen University said the deaths of the streams and rivers will also negatively change the flora and fauna in the area.

Now, the Central Highlands has dozens of other hydropower plants under operation to create more ‘deserts’ in the lower reaches of rivers.

Reactions from authorities

The agency in direct responsibility is the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, which approves the construction of hydropower projects.

According to the report on environmental impacts before building the hydropower project of An Khe – Ka Nak, the volume of water flow on Ba River in dry season was 7 – 10 cubic meters a second, but the ministry approved the plant to release only 4 cubic meters a second to the lower reaches.

The ministry must know in advance that 450,000 inhabitants living in the lower reaches behind the reservoir will certainly be affected due to scarcity of water.

Similarly, in the upper Kon Tum project, the ministry allows the plant to release 0.9 cubic meter of water a second, but surveys show that the volume of water flow in Dak Snghe River was 10-15 cubic meters a second in its normal conditions before the construction of the plant.

In short, it can be concluded that the ministry agrees to kill the rivers through hydropower projects.

Tran Trung Thanh, deputy director of the Central Highlands Hydrometeorology Station, told Tuoi Tre, “the transfer of water from one river to another river is taboo in hydrology. In some countries, they accept the destruction of hydropower plants because the value of electricity generation from these plants is lower than the environmental value.”