Chinese Dams Are Devastating the Mekong
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massive dams straddle the mighty Mekong River before it leaves China and flows into Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and on into Vietnam. Yet I have long been skeptical that China could use those 11 upstream dams, massive as they are, to turn off the tap for the countries downstream. Too many people’s livelihoods, including 20 percent of the world’s freshwater fish catch, are dependent on the monsoonal ebb and flow of the Mekong. Yes, dams might store water for a time, but eventually that water must flow downstream through generators’ spinning turbines or open floodgates. Holding on to that water for leverage seemed like a diplomatic blunder.
Since China began building these dams in the early 1990s, the downstream countries have worried China could use its massive cascade of reservoirs—they have a capacity to store as much water as is in the Chesapeake Bay—to hold them hostage. When I gave talks on my recent book, Last Days of the Mighty Mekong, I often felt audiences were disappointed that I avoided reflexively painting China as the upstream boogeyman. The way the downstream countries of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia build dams and extract sand, fish, and water from the river can also harm a fragile system.
Since China began building these dams in the early 1990s, the downstream countries have worried China could use its massive cascade of reservoirs—they have a capacity to store as much water as is in the Chesapeake Bay—to hold them hostage. When I gave talks on my recent book, Last Days of the Mighty Mekong, I often felt audiences were disappointed that I avoided reflexively painting China as the upstream boogeyman. The way the downstream countries of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia build dams and extract sand, fish, and water from the river can also harm a fragile system.
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China considers water management data to be a state secret, and, barring new evidence, it has always been difficult to reach defensible conclusions about China’s management water levels in the Mekong River. That is, until this month, when remarkable new data became public. It shines a dramatic light on how much water China’s upstream dams have blocked—even as downstream countries suffered through unprecedented drought.
Every year, the Mekong River rises and falls in cycle with the rainy season, when a massive pulse of water driven by monsoon rains and Himalayan snow melt flows downstream. Yet along the Thai-Lao border between June and November of last year the mainstream of the Mekong ran dry, the river bed and shoals were exposed, and isolated pools of flopping fish were unable to reach their spawning grounds.
That July, as the mainstream’s level fell so far that irrigation pumps could not reach it, the Thai government mobilized its army to conduct relief efforts. In the fall, Tonle Sap Lake will typically fill with monsoon waters rushing in from the mainstream for five months, providing Cambodians with up to 70 percent of their protein. Last year, the expansion of the lake, often described as the Mekong’s heartbeat, lasted just five weeks, and reports suggest it produced a fraction of the normal 500,000 tons of food.
Every year, the Mekong River rises and falls in cycle with the rainy season, when a massive pulse of water driven by monsoon rains and Himalayan snow melt flows downstream. Yet along the Thai-Lao border between June and November of last year the mainstream of the Mekong ran dry, the river bed and shoals were exposed, and isolated pools of flopping fish were unable to reach their spawning grounds.
That July, as the mainstream’s level fell so far that irrigation pumps could not reach it, the Thai government mobilized its army to conduct relief efforts. In the fall, Tonle Sap Lake will typically fill with monsoon waters rushing in from the mainstream for five months, providing Cambodians with up to 70 percent of their protein. Last year, the expansion of the lake, often described as the Mekong’s heartbeat, lasted just five weeks, and reports suggest it produced a fraction of the normal 500,000 tons of food.
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Southeast Asian countries would have likely experienced a much less severe drought last year if it were not for China's dams, a new study says, prompting a pushback from the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission (MRC).
The 4,000-km (2,485-mile) Mekong is one of the world's longest rivers - winding through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam - and millions of people rely on it daily for food and income.
Based on satellite data, water resources monitor Eyes on Earth calculated the Mekong's water flow stemming from snow-melt, soil moisture, and precipitation.
Using information from 1997 to 2001 to compute representative flows under normal conditions, authors Alan Basist and Claude Williams found that although China saw slightly above-average water flow from the Mekong last year, the data from Thailand's Chiang Saen gauge, the facility that monitors water level, showed that much less water had made it downstream.
Their findings show a variation between the height of the river under natural conditions, and the time that the dams started operating.
For example, in 2019, when the water level was expected to be at approximately 7.5 metres, the indicator showed that the water level only reached 2.5 metres.
The 4,000-km (2,485-mile) Mekong is one of the world's longest rivers - winding through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam - and millions of people rely on it daily for food and income.
Based on satellite data, water resources monitor Eyes on Earth calculated the Mekong's water flow stemming from snow-melt, soil moisture, and precipitation.
Using information from 1997 to 2001 to compute representative flows under normal conditions, authors Alan Basist and Claude Williams found that although China saw slightly above-average water flow from the Mekong last year, the data from Thailand's Chiang Saen gauge, the facility that monitors water level, showed that much less water had made it downstream.
Their findings show a variation between the height of the river under natural conditions, and the time that the dams started operating.
For example, in 2019, when the water level was expected to be at approximately 7.5 metres, the indicator showed that the water level only reached 2.5 metres.
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This one is true. I’ve personally conveyed my unhappiness to Beijing.
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There are indeed some chinese with conscience.
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