Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Red River now at lowest level on record

VietNamNet Bridge – Despite earlier tidal rises, on February 22, 7pm, the water in the Red River was only 10cm high, the lowest level on records.

The 3.7km Vinh Tuy Bridge across the Red River has become a viaduct with only one pile under water.

Due to the drying up since November 2009, sand-banks amid the river are rapidly expanding and become green grass fields.

Below the Vinh Tuy Bridge, Hanoi, is a vast sand-bank of thousands of meters. This modern bridge, which was inaugurated over 4 months ago, now has only one pile under water. The sand-bank under the Vinh Tuy bridge has become a sand mining site.

As of February 18, a section of river near the Long Bien Bridge has been dredged. This work will be carried out in 26 days to make a passage of 1.5m depth for boats. However, the water level has continued to fall.

Le Van Luong, director of the Waterway Management JS Company No. 6, the firm that is doing the dredging, complained: “It is useless to dredge the river when the water level falls below 10cm and rises to only 15-20cm”. Luong said that the waterway route on the Red River is paralyzed. Only small, empty boats can run in short passages.

Nguyen Lan Chau, deputy director of the National Hydrometeorology Forecast Centre said that due to lack of rain in the north, the water levels on northern rivers continue to fall. Reservoirs are about to discharge water for cultivation in the next several days and the Red River will reach 1.3-1.5m. However, the river will get exhausted again until mid-March 2010.