A US-backed monitoring project on the Mekong River will be formally launched on Tuesday in a move that could further test already fraught relations between The US and China.
The Mekong Dam Monitor, an open source online platform, is committed to using remote sensing and satellite images to update weekly the water levels of 13 DAMS on major stretches of the Mekong river and 15 tributary DAMS capable of generating more than 200 megawatts.
The project further seeks to publish weekly visualizations and analyses of “China’s 11 cascade DAMS on the upper Mekong,” as well as maps and data on temperature, snow cover, precipitation and other indicators throughout the river, according to its website.
The partnership is a joint venture between the Southeast Asia Project of the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank and Eyes On Earth Inc. For years, countries along the Mekong river have complained about China’s lack of transparency in sharing such information.
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In December, a hydropower station was proposed near a floating family on the Mekong River in Cambodia. Chinese officials and companies are hoping that building new DAMS in the region will offset slowing growth at home.
It will be released on Tuesday in an online activity – the United States, the assistant secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific affairs David Stilwell will keynote speech — just a few weeks ago, China launched a similar initiative, aimed at “to tackle climate change and natural disaster”, to display a “China as a responsible upstream neighbors kindness and sincerity”.
Previously, the Chinese government had only released information on the flood season, but pledged to release its Lancang-Mekong Water resources cooperation information sharing platform in November to share hydrological data throughout the year.
The agency aims to “correct inaccurate statements about the condition, operation and flow of DAMS and reservoirs in the Mekong Region” through “continuous, transparent and evidence-based monitoring,” according to its website.
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Nanwujiang 1 hydropower Station in northern Laos. The Southern Wujiang River is a major tributary of the Mekong River. The dam was built by China’s largest hydropower company. SERGEY PONOMAREV FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
In contrast, China’s information-sharing platform provides only a few updates on Chinese DAMS closest to the Thai border, said Brian Eyler, director of the Monitoring program and Stimson center’s Southeast Asia, Energy, Water and Sustainable Development program.
“The new Chinese website provides daily measurements of the water level below the dam, but the water level data and the dam operation data are completely different indicators,” he said, adding that the operational knowledge of China’s 11 cascade DAMS on the upper Mekong, including data on the condition of upstream reservoirs and the availability of water flow, remained unknown.
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Farmers prepare to plant rice in the Mekong Delta near Honghong, Vietnam. Rice growers in Vietnam and Thailand depend on alluvial soil from the Mekong river during the rainy season.
Eyler said it was too early to tell whether Chinese platforms would provide reliable flood and drought warnings, as promised when they were launched last month, as the systems were “clearly not operational yet”.
The 4,350km (2,700-mile) Mekong river flows through China – known in China as the Lancang River – and then through Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. It is depended on by more than 60 million people living along its routes.
For years, China’s hydroelectric DAMS on the upper Mekong have been accused of damaging the environment, damaging the lives of people downstream and causing floods and droughts, but Beijing has denied the accusations.
In April, Eyes on Earth published the results of a U.S. government-funded study that said Chinese DAMS have been holding back large amounts of water in the Mekong despite above-average water levels upstream. However, the Chinese government has denied these claims, saying that lower rainfall in parts of the country during last year’s monsoon season was responsible for the drop in water volumes.
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