Since November the water level in the Red River has reduced to a record low level for the last 107 years, said a senior official from the National Hydrometeorologic Forecast Centre.

The lowest level that experts measured is 0.76m on November 18. The water level later reached 1.3m on the morning of December 3.

Tinh said that the average water level in the Red River in November is 2.5-3m but in recent years, it has always been lower because November was the time for hydro-power plants in China and Vietnam to store water. Meanwhile, rainfall and floods in the North Vietnam ended in August.

Dam Hoa Binh, vice chief of the Irrigation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said droughts may continue to occur widely and be prolonged in the north.

By the end of November 2009, only two out of 17 big reservoirs in the northern region have stored sufficient water for irrigation. Water levels at hydro-power reservoirs are very low. The Hoa Binh reservoir currently lacks around 600 million cu.m of water, nearly 1.1 billion for the Thac Ba reservoir and around 900 million cu.m for the Tuyen Quang reservoir.

The water level of at the Red River upstream (in Lao Cai) was over 76m on December 2, nearly equal to the record low level in over 100 years of 75.45m in 1958.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre