Mekong dams; Chinese dams are already affecting Cambodian waterlevels.
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 9:10 pm
And this is only a taste of things to come, as Laos continues to build dams and Cambodia plans to construct a dam at Sambor, Kratie which will threaten the last home of the Irrawaddy dolphins in the Cambodian stretch of the Mekong.
Together with climate change, the number of massive hydro-electric dams planned for the Mekong river are going to have a huge impact on all the fish, mammals and human beings who depend on South East Asia's giant river. SEA needs power certainly, but there is no oversight on the longterm consequences of the Mekong dam-building frenzy.
China Dam Construction Is Putting Pressure on Mekong River
by Aisha Down and Van Roeun | January 17, 2017
A cascade of six dams being built in southern China has caused significant changes to water levels in the Mekong River as far downstream as Cambodia, according to a study released by researchers from Finland and Laos.
Mekong water levels have increased during the dry season and decreased during the wet season at several sites on the river as a result of China’s dams, according to the study, which was released earlier this month.
Water levels in Kratie province, for example, have been 74 percent higher in the dry season over the past five years compared to the long-term average, the study says.
While there are some potential positive impacts—more water available during the dry season makes the river easier to navigate—the study says that overall the deviations threaten the livelihoods of those living on the river, destroy fish habitats and unpredictably flood houses and fields.
Maureen Harris, the Southeast Asia program director for the NGO International Rivers, agreed that the dams in China were causing irregular spikes in water levels as they discharged water from their reservoirs.
“Some people have had property destroyed from these fluctuations. Some have lost shopfronts, lost farms,” Ms. Harris said.
Ms. Harris, whose NGO has worked extensively with communities affected by hydropower projects on the Mekong, said the Chinese dams often released water without warning, with no information reaching those whose rice fields, fish traps and water buffaloes might be affected.
“China’s been quite resistant to engaging in multilateral platforms. There’s been some recent data-sharing…but the information is inadequate,” Ms. Harris said...
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chin ... er-123538/
Together with climate change, the number of massive hydro-electric dams planned for the Mekong river are going to have a huge impact on all the fish, mammals and human beings who depend on South East Asia's giant river. SEA needs power certainly, but there is no oversight on the longterm consequences of the Mekong dam-building frenzy.
China Dam Construction Is Putting Pressure on Mekong River
by Aisha Down and Van Roeun | January 17, 2017
A cascade of six dams being built in southern China has caused significant changes to water levels in the Mekong River as far downstream as Cambodia, according to a study released by researchers from Finland and Laos.
Mekong water levels have increased during the dry season and decreased during the wet season at several sites on the river as a result of China’s dams, according to the study, which was released earlier this month.
Water levels in Kratie province, for example, have been 74 percent higher in the dry season over the past five years compared to the long-term average, the study says.
While there are some potential positive impacts—more water available during the dry season makes the river easier to navigate—the study says that overall the deviations threaten the livelihoods of those living on the river, destroy fish habitats and unpredictably flood houses and fields.
Maureen Harris, the Southeast Asia program director for the NGO International Rivers, agreed that the dams in China were causing irregular spikes in water levels as they discharged water from their reservoirs.
“Some people have had property destroyed from these fluctuations. Some have lost shopfronts, lost farms,” Ms. Harris said.
Ms. Harris, whose NGO has worked extensively with communities affected by hydropower projects on the Mekong, said the Chinese dams often released water without warning, with no information reaching those whose rice fields, fish traps and water buffaloes might be affected.
“China’s been quite resistant to engaging in multilateral platforms. There’s been some recent data-sharing…but the information is inadequate,” Ms. Harris said...
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chin ... er-123538/