Hoa Binh Dam Environmental Report

Hòa Bình Dam^[a]

[pic 1]

Description^[b]

The Hoa Binh hydropower project was constructed in Vietnam's Hoa Binh Province on the Black (Da) River between 1979 and April 1994 and financed by the former Soviet Union at the cost of an estimated US$1.5 billion to US$2 billion.

The dam sits at 970m wide and 128m high and its eight turbines have a production capacity of 1920 MW by 8 turbines producing 240MW each. The volume of water is about 9870 million m3.^[c] The mean annual production is 8160 GWh.

The project is owned and operated by Vietnam Electricity (EVN) and was constructed as a multipurpose dam for flood control, electricity generation, irrigation, and navigation.

In the context of economic growth of Vietnam, the national demand in electricity increase by 15% per year, so the main purpose of Hoa Binh was logically to produce more electricity to supply the country. But what are the impacts of this project, and especially on the environment? Finally, is this dam good for Vietnam? ^[d]

Impacts

Major impacts of the dam at a local scale included a loss in fisheries, problems of deforestation, a loss of local ecosystems, land use issues for farming, and a loss of livelihoods and cultural identity. Fortunately, at a national scale, the impacts are by far better.

• Environmental Impacts

At the first level of impacts, there are the visible ones. Basically, the first consequence of a dam is the flood generated upstream.  Here, the project inundated 11,000 ha of land, creating other consequences. Deforestation and so loss of vegetation cover are one of them. Related to that, there is a biodiversity loss concerning a part of wildlife and agro-diversity and a development of another ecosystem^[e]. Next, soil erosion is not negligible and it as engendered a loss of landscape and aesthetic degradation. It can generate some floods like mudflows which can be very dangerous. Also, we can observe surface water pollution and a decreasing water quality, about physico-chemical and biological standards. The construction of this dam has reduced the ecological and hydrological connectivity of the river Da. Species of fish that were used to swim downstream to upstream can not longer do it. It means there is a large-scale disturbance of hydro and geological ^[f]systems.

More, the presence of mercury in the soils can responsible for groundwater and surface water pollution or depletion, but there is no data about this.

The reservoir of water allowed by the dam is very helpful during dry season to ensure water supply for the irrigation of fields.

Actually, coal is the mean source for the production of energy in Vietnam. The process to make energy with coals is the more polluting way to produce energy. In this point of view, the development of hydroelectricity production by dams is a very good solution to limit the impact on the environment.