The Mekong River Commission (MRC) said Friday (Feb. 12) that water levels in the Mekong River have fallen to “worrying levels,” partly due to outflow restrictions from Chinese hydropower dams upstream, and called on Beijing to share all its water data.
The Mekong is an important waterway along the Thai-Laos border. The color of the water in that stretch of the river now changes from the usual dark brown to blue, indicating shallower water depths and lower levels of nutrient-rich sediment. The Mekong Commission says the change in water color is partly due to water restrictions at the Jinghong hydropower dam in China’s Yunnan province.
The Mekong River Commission has four member countries, they are Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. China and Myanmar became dialogue partners of this commission in 1996.
A statement from the Mekong Commission on Friday said low rainfall and dams on the lower Mekong and its tributaries also contributed to the falling water levels.
Winai Wongpimool, director of technical support at the Mekong Commission secretariat, was quoted by Reuters as saying, “From Jinghong to Vientiane downstream, the water level has been high and low. It rises and falls suddenly.”
Such fluctuations in water levels affect fish migration, agriculture and transportation, and nearly 70 million people depend on the Mekong for their livelihoods and Food security.
Winnet said, “To help the lower Mekong countries manage the risks more effectively, we are calling on China and the lower Mekong countries to share their water release plans with us.”
The Mekong Committee said normal conditions could return downstream if China releases large amounts of water from its dam reservoirs.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not return a request for comment from Reuters on Friday, which is the Chinese New Year holiday.
The Mekong Dam Monitoring Project also said it noted fluctuations in the daily release of water from China’s Jinghong Dam in February.
The testing program, set up with funding from the U.S. State Department, was launched on Dec. 15 last year. Operated by the Stimson Center, the Mekong Dams Monitoring Project integrates hydrologic and climatic information and satellite air photos of 31 major dams in the basin, allowing for almost instantaneous hydrologic information sharing. For the Chinese component, the project discloses information on the water sources of 10 major dams in Yunnan Province.
China has so far built 11 hydropower plants on the upper Mekong River, some with large reservoirs that store large amounts of river water. The Mekong River is known as the Lancang River in China.
China officially signed a contract with the Mekong River Commission last October, committing to share data on hydropower plants with the Commission’s member countries throughout the year. This comes after member countries such as Cambodia have urged Beijing for years to share hydrological data. In January, Beijing informed neighboring countries that the Jinghong dam was storing water and that the flow would return to “normal operation” on Jan. 25.
The Mekong River Commission said the discharge from the Jinghong dam downstream was 785 cubic meters per second in early January, then rose to 1,400 cubic meters per second in mid-January, and fell again in February to a level of 800 cubic meters per second as of Thursday. The Mekong Committee’s statement did not mention any recent notification from Beijing.
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