Strengthening the clearance of obstacles on the canal system

The situation of waste generation affecting the service capacity of the canal system, especially the main canals, has been going on for a long time. The local government and irrigation units serving the province have taken many measures to prevent it, but the above situation has not improved. Therefore, the work of clearing obstacles and waste needs to be further strengthened to help clear the flow and improve the service capacity of irrigation works.

Thanh Liem District Irrigation Enterprise manages a fairly large irrigation and drainage canal system, with a total length of nearly 200 km. Many main canals flowing through residential areas in the area have a situation where garbage is dumped into the canal bed, causing blockages in the flow, affecting operational capacity. Before and during each irrigation and drainage period, the unit must inspect and organize clearance. Typically, on the main Kinh Thuy drainage canal running along the district, people often dump garbage. Every time it operates, garbage flows into some bridges and culverts, such as the culvert area in Thanh Ha commune, Nga bridge (Tan Thanh town)... There were times when the amount of garbage accumulated was so large that Thanh Liem District Irrigation Enterprise had to use excavators to clear it. The total amount of garbage and obstacles cleared on Kinh Thuy canal in the 8 months of 2023 was 43 m3; In addition, more than 57,000 square meters of duckweed, trees, and grass on both banks and the canal bed were treated on the common canal system of Thanh Liem district.

Mr. Nguyen Van Long, Director of Thanh Liem District Irrigation Enterprise, said: The need for irrigation and drainage services in the area during the crop season is very important, especially in the uneven terrain of high and low agricultural land. To ensure the smooth flow of the canal system, the unit had to use many measures from assigning management to each individual, to centralized handling at the main bottlenecks...

Strengthening the clearance of obstacles on the canal system — **Workers of Binh Luc District Irrigation Enterprise clear water fern and trash on the Sat River.** Photo: Kim Chi

Recently, the work of clearing obstacles on the canal system has been carried out at all irrigation units in the province. In Kim Bang district, the situation of people throwing garbage into the canal bed at many sections is quite large. Since the beginning of the year, Kim Bang District Irrigation Enterprise has organized many clearance campaigns, the amount of garbage on the canal bed has been collected up to 387 m3, of which 255 m3 is from the irrigation canal system. Ly Nhan District Irrigation Enterprise has organized the clearance of 392 m3 of garbage on the canal bed, including: 195 m3 on the irrigation canal, 197 m3 on the drainage canal. Notably, on the irrigation canal of the Nhu Trac pumping station system with a length of more than 10 km irrigating a part of Binh Luc district and Ly Nhan district, the situation of garbage dumped into the canal bed is always at an alarming level. At each irrigation session for Binh Luc district, the Nhu Trac canal management team must arrange workers to be on duty at the Vinh Tru siphon point to collect garbage flowing down the water. The total volume of waste collected on the main irrigation canal of Nhu Trac in 2023 has reached 250 m3. For each irrigation session, the management team of Nhu Trac canal collects 10 - 20 m3 of waste from the canal.

According to Mr. Truong Duc Thien, Head of Water and Construction Management Department ( Ha Nam Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited): Waste continues to be a problem, affecting the service process of the canal system. Every year, the company allocates funds to clear obstacles and waste on the canal. Trash screens are also installed on the canal, the canal section leading to the pumping station's suction tank to prevent waste from affecting the operation process...

The sources of waste discharged into the canal system are quite diverse, from bags and packages containing animal carcasses, to beds, mattresses, blankets, curtains, torn plastic sheets, household waste bags, etc. Currently, all localities have waste collection teams in villages and hamlets. Waste is collected in transfer tanks and taken to treatment plants. At the same time, propaganda work on waste classification, collection and treatment in households has also been strengthened. However, due to insufficient awareness, people still throw a significant amount of waste into the canals. According to the reflection of people in some localities, currently many people who work for businesses do not have time to throw away waste when the collection team passes by their house. Instead, early in the morning when going to work, they bring bags of waste and throw them into the canals...

Currently, due to climate change, unusual rainfall and drought are increasing. Along with that, the shift in crop structure and crop variety structure requires higher irrigation and drainage services than before. To effectively prevent the situation of waste arising and causing congestion, affecting the service capacity of the canal system, in addition to promoting propaganda and mobilizing people not to throw waste into the canal, it is necessary to strengthen state management and have appropriate measures to handle cases of throwing waste into the canal.

Manh Hung

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