3rd Mekong Forum on Water, Food & Energy 2013. Presentation from Session 7:

1. Potential benefits of sharing water from the
Yali hydropower reservoir, Vietnam
Presentation for the 3rd Mekong Forum on
Water, Food and Energy
19-21 November, 2013, Hanoi, Vietnam
Vũ Xuân Nguyệt Hồng, CIEM – MK2 Team leader for Vietnam
Nguyễn Việt Anh, ICEM – MK2 Vietnam Team Member
Yumiko Kura, WorldFish – MK2 Project Leader
1

2. Presentation contents
1. Study approach and methods
2. Contribution of different water sources to the
local economic activities
3. Possible future water shortages
4. Trade-offs from using Yali reservoir water for
non-hydropower purposes
5. Conclusion
2

3. 1. Study Approach and Methods
• Objectives:

Provide useful information on economic benefits of the
alternative schemes of water use in Yali reservoir for
coordination of water management strategies in two central
highland provinces of VN.
• Methodology:
• Use direct use method to analyze water value for local
communities based on household survey of 350 households
in the reservoir’s buffer zone
• Water demand estimates based on socioeconomic
development plans at district and provincial levels
• Analysis of water availability and allocation trade-offs using
hydrological models
3

4. Study Area
• 2km buffer zone around Yali
reservoir, where Yali
hydropower plant operates
(since April 2002)
• 46 villages surrounding the
reservoir which are parts of
Chư pah district in Gia Lai
province, and Sa thầy district
and Kontum city in Kontum
province.
• This covers a land area of
355,5 km2 with 33.3
thousands residents
4

5. The water issues...
• Water use issues:
– Single water use of Yali reservoir for hydropower
generation (reservoir exclusively managed by a state
hydropower company -EVN);
– Limited water access to reservoir by local households
whose livelihoods much depend on water (irrigation,
fishing, aquaculture, washing, cooking etc.) ;
– Multiple use of water is not clearly addressed in local
authority’s water planning and allocation (both crosssector and trans-boundary)
– Lack coordination between the two provincial authorities,
and the hydropower plant on water use allocation
(upstream and downstream of Yali reservoir).
5

6. 6

7. 2. Contribution of different water sources
to the local economic activities
Table: % of Households Using Different Sources of Water
For
Drinking
Bathing
Washing
Irrigation
Fishing
Livestock watering
Transportation
River/Stream
10
9
9
36
0
8
-
Rain Water /Springs
1
6
6
30
0
-
Tap Water
6
5
5
6
0
-
Wells
80
78
76
22
50
-
Yali Reservoir
0
1
0
4
9
0
0
• Public and private wells are the most importance source of water for
domestic uses and livestock
• Rain water and small rivers /streams are the main water source for
agriculture
• Use of Yali reservoir water is limited to some fishing and irrigation
activities; But
• 91% of the households who are involved in fishing consider Yali
reservoir important for fishing
7

8. Water sources for agriculture activities
Crop type
Irrigation sources
Rice
Cassava
Coffee
Cinnamon
Rubber
1 = Reservoir
no
no
no
no
no
2 = Irrigation canal
no
no
X
no
no
3 = Stream
XX
no
XX
no
no
4 = Rain Water
XX
XXX
no
XXX
XXX
5 = Dug well
no
no
XX
No
no
6 = Drilled well
no
no
no
no
no
7 = River
no
no
no
no
no
8 = Mountain water drop
XX
no
no
no
no
9= Others
no
no
No
no
no
Crop type
Irrigation method
Rice
Cassava
Coffee
Cinnamon
Rubber
1= Canal irrigation
X
no
no
No
no
2=Flood irrigation
XX
no
no
no
no
3= Motor pumping
no
no
XXX
no
no
4 = Drawdown agriculture
no
no
no
X
XXX
5= Manual watering
no
no
No
no
no
6= Rain water
XX
XXX
no
XXX
no
Note: X farly important; XX important; XXX very important
8

9. Water sources for domestic and livestock use
Source of water
Drinking
Use of water for
Washing
Bathing Irrigation Livestock
clothes
cleaning
River
no
no
no
no
no
Stream/Creek
X
X
X
XX
X
Rain Water Barrel
no
no
no
no
X
Mountain water drop
no
no
X
X
X
Tap – public
no
no
no
no
no
Openned well
XX
XX
XX
no
no
Drilled well
XX
XX
XX
XX
XX
Other
no
no
no
X
no
Note: X farly important; XX important; XXX very important
9

10. Contribution of water-dependent activities to
household income generation
Structure of income from economic activities
(% of total revenue of household from economic activities)
Whole sample
Chupah
Sathay
Economic activity
1000 VND
Structure
%
1000 VND
Structure
%
1000 VND
Structure
%
1. Agriculture
Of which,
Farm
Livestock
Fishery
Forestry
2. Non-agriculture
3. Total
48246.4
79.2%
52841.5
78.1%
43690.5
79.8%
42904.0
2999.4
795.7
1635.6
12730.4
61,204
70.1%
4.8%
1.3%
3.0%
20.8%
100%
46684.8
3924.1
2165.0
67.7
14817.3
67,659
69.0%
5.8%
3.2%
0.1%
21.9%
100%
38708.2
2299.6
109.5
2573.2
11059.5
54,750
70.7%
4.2%
0.2%
4.7%
20.2%
100%
10

11. 3. Possible future water shortages
11

12. Surface water availability
near Yali reservoir
• Surface water stress
occurs during the dry
season
• Water demand is expected
to increase in future
• Water from the reservoir
may be helpful in a severe
drought and water
shortage year
• What would be the impact
on hydropower production
if the local communities
are allowed to use
reservoir water?

13. 4. Trade-offs from using Yali reservoir
water for non-hydropower purposes
Comparing hydropower production under two
hydrological scenarios:
•Scenario 1 (Baseline): Yali reservoir is
managed exclusively for hydropower
production
•Scenario 2: Reservoir water is used to meet
100% of the total water demand within a 2km
buffer zone around the reservoir (annual
water demand is 81.3 million m3)
13

14. Comparison of hydropower production
between two scenarios
• Reservoir storage capacity in
the dry season is reduced by
3.6% on average (493m3 daily)
• Power production in the dry
season is reduced by 3.5% on
average (3,194kWh)
• Total annual reduction in
power production is 34.6 GWh
or 9.6 billion VND,
approximately $450,000
• 83% of the loss occurs during
dry season but dry season
production is only 22% of the
yearly production

15. Water economic benefit valuation from hydropower
generation
For hydropower generation (m3/year)
Electricity Production of Yali (million KWh)
Price sold to EVN (VND/KWh)
Production output value from hydropower generation
(million VND)
Water economic benefit from hydropower generation
(VND/m3)
2,394,049,315
3680
280
1030400
430.40
15

16. Water Economic valuation from non-hydropower activities
Sathay district
Economic benefit (thousand VND/m3 water)
From crops farming
From aquaculture
From domestic use
From lifestock
Economic benefit (USD/m3 water)
From crops farming
From aquaculture
From domestic use
From lifestock
4.864
4.376
11.592
8.283
6.828
0.243
0.219
0.580
0.414
0.341
Chu Pah district Kon Tum town
4.987
4.456
18.825
8.283
8.431
0.249
0.223
0.941
0.414
0.422
10.050
9.950
19.051
8.283
27.294
0.503
0.498
0.953
0.414
1.365
Total
6.061
5.519
15.627
8.283
10.014
0.303
0.276
0.781
0.414
0.501
Note: 1USD = 20,000 VND;
Comparison of water economic value estimates
Highland Vietnam
Asia
World
From agriculture
From domestic use
0.276
0.414
0.219
0.303
0.319
0.59
Source: - Figures for Vietnam were from the table above;
- Figures for Asia and the World were from “Economic value of water for “Agriculture, domestic and industrial
use: A global compilation of economic studies and market prices”. By Ecosystem Economics LLC, USA. in May 2010
16

17. 5. Conclusion
 Economic benefit /m3 of water for the local communities is
10 - 60 times higher than the sales value of electricity /m3
to the hydropower company
 Even if 100% of water demand of the local communities
within 2km of the Yali reservoir is supplied by the
reservoir, the reduction in the electricity production would
be relatively small
 Increased access to the water resources in Yali reservoir can
potentially create high economic benefit to the local
communities, especially in drought or water shortage
conditions
 More research is needed on technical and institutional
feasibility of using the Yali reservoir for non-hydropower
uses
17

18. Thank you for your attention!
18