Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100226/wl_asia_afp/vietnamlaosthailandchinaenvironmentclimate

HANOI (AFP) – Water levels in the northern Mekong River are at record-low levels, posing a threat to water supply, navigation and irrigation along a stretch of water that is home to millions, a regional official said.

Northern Thailand, northern Laos and southern China have all been affected, Jeremy Bird, chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) secretariat, told AFP.

"The flows are much lower than we've got records on in the last 20 years," said Bird, whose inter-governmental body deals with all Mekong River-related activities including fisheries, agriculture and flood management.

"Now what we're seeing is these flows are reducing even more," Bird said from Laos on Thursday.

More than 60 million people in the lower Mekong basin depend on the river system for food, transport and economic activity, the MRC says, adding that it is home to the world's most valuable inland fishery.

Bird said 21 cargo boats have reportedly been stranded because of the shallow river water in southern China.

A regional drought has caused the water to drop, the MRC said.

"Severe drought will have an impact on agriculture, food security, access to clean water and river transport and will affect the economic development of people already facing serious poverty," it said in a statement.

"The northern provinces are amongst the poorest areas for both Lao PDR and Thailand."

River tour operators have stopped offering services on the river between the Laotian tourist centre of Luang Prabang and Huay Xai on the Thai border, the MRC said.

Officials in Laos have started advising people to reduce water consumption.

Bird said it is difficult to say whether global warming is responsible but the wet season in Vientiane last year was one of the worst on record, and was followed by much lower than average rain late in 2009 and early this year.

As a result, there has been very low water flow in the Mekong's tributaries.

"The rainfall in China is also extremely low," Bird said.

Thai non-governmental groups believe the unusually low levels are caused by Chinese dams, according to reports in the Bangkok Post.

There are eight existing or planned dams on the mainstream Mekong in China, the MRC has said.

"It's difficult for us to say categorically that there's no link" between the low water levels and those dams, Bird said.

But he added it would not be normal for dams to be filled during the dry season.

The Nation newspaper in Bangkok reported that Thailand would ask the MRC to negotiate with China for the release of more water from its Mekong dams to alleviate downstream drought.

Bird said the commission has not yet received any formal request from Thailand. If it does, the MRC would discuss with China the possibility of releasing water.

"This is one area where the dams upstream would actually be beneficial," he said, because once the hydropower projects are in service they should lead to 30-40 percent more dry-season water flow.

China and Myanmar are dialogue partners with the MRC which groups Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

MRC data show that water levels on the Mekong in Cambodia are not as low as in the north, which Bird said is explained by factors such as different regional rainfall systems.

For the north, the problem is only set to get worse.

"The flows will probably continue to reduce for another month," Bird said.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/33467/china-dams-killing-mekong

Like most rivers in this country which are fast drying up under the scorching summer sun, the Mekong is no exception. This otherwise mighty river has shrunk substantially in size and its once forceful flow is now down to a trickle in many lower stretches of the river, to the extent that navigation has become impossible.

Although the drying up of the Mekong River in the dry season has become a normal phenomenon, the situation this year appears to be much worse than that in previous years. The impact has already been felt by people depending on the river for water, transport and food. The Irrigation Department of late has reported that the river in Loei, Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces has already reached critical levels even though the peak of the dry season is still a month away. Tour boat operators in Chiang Rai's Chiang Saen district have suspended their services because the water level is too shallow for navigation. Fishermen have reported fewer catches prompting many of them to turn to other manual jobs to make a living.

Less rainfall as a result of climatic changes may be partly to blame. But non-governmental organisations which have been closely monitoring ecological changes in the Mekong River have been quick to point accusatory fingers at China. They blame China for storing up water, especially at the newly-completed Xiaowan hydro-electric dam, to generate electricity. That is just part of the sad story. The damming of the Mekong's tributaries in Laos and northeastern Thailand, such as the Pak Moon dam, also contribute to less water flowing into the Mekong.

The Thai NGOs are not the only ones who believe that the damming of the Mekong River by Beijing has resulted in the river drying up, especially in the hot season. Eight hydro-electric dams have been planned for the upper reaches of the river in China's southern province of Yunnan and four of them have already been completed.

The Mekong River Commission, which China has refused to join, has repeatedly voiced serious concern about the adverse impact caused by the dams to the ecological system of the river basin and to the millions of people living downstream, but to no avail.

Beijing built the dams to harness the Mekong for its own benefit, with complete disregard for the potential adversity rendered to the river's ecological system and the livelihoods of the peoples of Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam along the lower reaches of the river. This should not be surprising as the Chinese government did not care much either for the plight of tens of thousands of Chinese who were forced to evacuate to pave the way for the dams' construction.

What is most disturbing about the whole tragic saga of this crucial water lifeline appears to be the quiet submission to Beijing's blatant abuse of the river by governments in the region and their seeming acceptance of the consequences as a fait accompli. Unless the governments of the Mekong riparian countries act collectively as a single entity, there is little chance that Beijing will come to the negotiating table or be willing to part with crucial information about the dam projects and, more importantly, water management.

China has established itself as an economic behemoth. But the way it has treated its small neighbours to the south, especially regarding the use of the Mekong River, leaves much to be desired. To earn the genuine respect and recognition of these countries, China must not only act responsibly but also accountably, befitting its status as an emerging super power.