Missing Mekong waters rouse suspicions of China

[webfact]

Missing Mekong waters rouse suspicions of China

By Panu Wongcha-um

 

A fisherman scoops water out of his boat on the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand July 24, 2019. Picture taken July 24, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

BAN NONG CHAN, Thailand (Reuters) - By this time of year, the Mekong River should have been rising steadily with the monsoon rains, bringing fishermen a bounty of fat fish.

 

Instead, the river water in Thailand has fallen further than anyone can remember and the only fish are tiny.

 

Scientists and people living along the river fear the impact of the worst drought in years has been exacerbated by upstream dams raising the prospect of irreversible change on the river that supports one of Southeast Asia's most important rice-growing regions.

 

A Chinese promise to release more dam water to ease the crisis has only raised worries over the extent to which the river's natural cycles - and the communities that have depended on it for generations - have been forever disrupted.

 

"Now China is completely in control of the water," said Premrudee Deoruong of Laos Dam Investment Monitor, an environmental group.

"From now on, the concern is that the water will be controlled by the dam builders."

 

In the northeastern Thai province of Nakhon Phanom, where the now sluggish river forms the border with Laos, the measured depth of the Mekong fell below 1.5 meters this week. The average depth there for the same time of year is 8 meters.

 

"What I have seen this year has never happened before," said Sun Prompakdee, who has been fishing from Ban Nong Chan village for most of his 60 years. "Now we only get small fish, there are no big fish when the water is this low."

 

The collapse in the water level is partly due to drought - with rainfall during the past 60 days more than 40 percent below normal for the time of year.

 

BAD TIMING

But it is also because dams upstream cut off water just when it was most needed. China's Jinghong hydropower station said in early July it was more than halving the flow rate for "grid maintenance" on what China calls the Lancang River.

 

Then the new Xayaburi dam, being built by a Thai company in Laos to provide power for Thailand, began test runs on July 15.

 

"It’s indicative of the difficulties of launching and operating mega projects in a system that is susceptible to wild swings in its seasonality as well as moving into a period in which climate change impacts are settling in," said researcher Brian Eyler, author of "Last Days of the Mighty Mekong".

 

It is just the kind of nightmare feared by the countries downstream - Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - where tens of millions of people rely on a river that gave rise to the region's ancient kingdoms.

 

Facing water shortages in cities and fields, Thailand has told farmers to stop planting more rice.

 

Thailand's foreign ministry told Reuters it had invited in the Chinese ambassador "to discuss ways to resolve the Mekong crisis regarding climate change and drought".

 

CHINESE PROMISE

China's embassy did not respond to a request for comment on the meeting or the water shortage. Just two weeks before the crisis, the embassy released a statement promising China's care for a river it said "embodies a natural bond of mutual support".

 

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: "I know that China has been in close contact with countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion, regarding cooperation on the Mekong River."

 

Thailand also asked Laos to open the Xayaburi dam.

 

Both China and Laos had agreed to release water to address the immediate water shortage, the Thai foreign ministry said. Since then, the water level at Nakhon Phanom has started to rise.

 

But environmentalists said the sudden water shortage was a warning sign for the future of the Mekong and its flora and fauna, including the endangered Giant Catfish.

 

China's 11 Mekong dams with the capacity to generate more than 21,300 MW of electricity dwarf those of its neighbors.

 

Another 8 dams proposed for the river basin - the main river and its tributaries - could add capacity of nearly 6,000 MW, according to the Washington-based Stimson Center.

 

The dams in Laos are much smaller and the current 64 generate less than 5,700 MW, but there are 63 being built and proposals to add more than 300 so that the electricity capacity from its part of the Mekong basin would surpass China's.

 

"It is using the river for only one use – hydropower - and the other users are being marginalized," said Pianporn Deetes of the International Rivers group.

 

The fact that China said the dams could help to regulate the water levels on the Mekong - providing more water in the dry season and storing it in the monsoon - was itself worrying, she said.

 

The life of the river has adapted to monsoon floods that bring silt and allow fish to migrate and a dry season that leaves land exposed where birds can breed.

 

Trying to manage the flow of the river through planned releases from dams can lead to unpredictable swings that suddenly wash away boats or livestock.

 

The fishermen of Nakhon Phanom have started using smaller mesh nets and finer lines now that the fish are smaller. They go out less frequently and make much less money.

 

"I wish the seasonal pattern would return so fish can lay eggs as they used to," said fisherman Chai Haikamsri, 47.

 

"I wish the dams would not disrupt this any more."

 

(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Matthew Tostevin in BANGKOK and Wu Huizhong and Thomas Suen in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-26

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[RichardColeman]

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Instead, the river water in Thailand has fallen further than anyone can remember and the only fish are tiny.

Maybe they just greedily over fished the big ones previously ? 

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Now China is completely in control

Yes, that about sums it up...

[ezzra]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Missing Mekong waters rouse suspicions of China

Suspicions only, really? what gave it away? the fact that China erected 8 dams to collect and re channel the water to it's needs didn't register in someone's head?

hina is the boss of the region, China don't give a rat's ass to anyone but to it's own agenda and policies, you can complain but are you also willing to invoke China ire and anger?...

Edited July 25, 2019 by ezzra

[Puchaiyank]

Now China is completely in control of the water," 

 

Today control the flow of the Mekong...near future control all countries that have depended upon the river forever to irrigate their crops and provide fish for millions...

 

There will be a steady stream of government officials headed to Peking to pay homage to their new SE Asian masters...

[wisperone]

I feel sorry for Lao, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I certainly wouldn't want China in control of my water supply. When water is limited, which is already the case, and only going to get worse, China won't give 2 shits about the countries to the south. Better get their heads together and start planning, this won't end well. No water, no survival. You haven't seen nothing yet!

[BuckBee]

It is the startof major environment changes and more hardships for thailand and vietnam, only thing that makes it worse is they both buying the cheap electric from china (internal china power distributor conflicts means they not using much themselves) when should be telling them where to stick it and their investment .

Got everything to loose from handling china integration/support wrong .
Unfortunately Buck Banana loves the China style government and bit of a farang hater so China got Thailand without resistance and pretty much for free lol . Hell I think they actually making a mint from thailand legally and illegally ... it like stealing from a blind baby .

Edited July 25, 2019 by BuckBee

[YetAnother]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

A Chinese promise to release more dam water

haha; that and 10 cents gets you a 10 cent cup of coffee, with little water

[leeneeds]

Chinese Monopoly is not a game,

the Chinese play with out loaded dice,

getting into bed with them has serious future consequences, that SE Asian governments 

need to reframe themselves from taking their cash to eagerly.

 

[Somtamnication]

Time to pay the piper!!!!!

[geoffbezoz]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Maybe they just greedily over fished the big ones previously ? 

Certainly that was the case with the Mekong catfish as Thailand was, or used to be , the main spawning grounds for them. But to be fair Laos and Cambodia were also a smaller contributor to its almost demise as it is now an endangered species.

[Lenny Jones]

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

Yes, that about sums it up...

Anybody who believes that China cares for, or tells the truth to its neighbours is a fool.

[ZeVonderBearz]

Thailand don't need no water from the Chinese dam as the Thai army already has Chinese tanks and subs. We all know in a water crises that tanks and subs can be used to easily avert any threat of water shortages. Alternatively, the army could send Toon Body Slam on a run to the Chinese dam where he could collect the water and bring it back to Thailand himself.

[ChrisY1]

Many SE Asian nations are just so China centric, probably for bankrolling them, that they have ignored what China is actually doing...beginning to own them.

Taking upstream water from the Mekong, leaving little for those downstream, will only encourage kowtowing to the masters for their people....with the exception of Hun Sen who doesn't give a damn about his people!

[Oziex1]

How's the USA and it's allies looking now. Are we friends again. 

Hate the thought of military conflict, but sooner or later we need to test how far this giant wants to go. Having said that they are only looking after their own needs. We are struggling, caught between lucrative trade and the rise of their power, we are stuck in the past with our games continuing in the ME and  a potential conflict with Iran. 

The pressure of population growth on the world will inevitably lead to great struggles, this is the beginning. 

 

[Geoffggi]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

"Now China is completely in control of the water," said Premrudee Deoruong of Laos Dam Investment Monitor, an environmental group.

"From now on, the concern is that the water will be controlled by the dam builders."

Finally the penny drops...!!!

[soalbundy]

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

Yes, that about sums it up...

Belt and road anyone ?  you'll love it.

[worgeordie]

They are holding it hostage and will soon be making 

their demands known.........

regards Worgeordie

[userabcd]

Once again we see the effect of earths overpopulation.

[Uptooyoo]

Scientists from the west warned this would happen when the dam projects were in the design phase, but were ignored. Now that it's actually happening, people are shocked. Similar to climate change.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Uptooyoo

[Uptooyoo]

As it has for millenia, the Mekong in Cambodia floods every year, rising over its banks to create a shallow flood-plain for hundreds of square kilometers. Several species of fish spawn in the shallows and will face extinction, because the new dams will restrict the Mekong's flow, preventing the annual floods from occurring. Entire fishing communities downstream from China could be wiped out. But what does China care? 

Edited July 26, 2019 by Uptooyoo

[ballpoint]

[neeray]

If China wants to control the East China Sea, they just do it (Spratly Islands).

If China wants to have Taiwan or Hong Kong, they'll just take it.

If China wants to control the flow of the Mekong, they'll do as they wish.

[Isaan sailor]

• Shame on ChiComs for hogging Mekong waters.  

• Shame on Thailand for signing bi-lateral trade agreements with ChiComs.

• Shame on BoT for taking in too much foreign hot money bond sales—which in turn jack up the Baht.

[klauskunkel]

but China is a good friend and philanthropist, they would never use the Mekong as hostage...? 

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

"Now China is completely in control of the water," said Premrudee Deoruong of Laos Dam Investment Monitor, an environmental group.

"From now on, the concern is that the water will be controlled by the dam builders."

You reap what you sow ..... som nam na. 

The devil enticed you to join him at the dining table... but there's no such things as a free meal !!!!!

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Now China is completely in control of the water," 

 

Today control the flow of the Mekong...near future control all countries that have depended upon the river forever to irrigate their crops and provide fish for millions...

 

There will be a steady stream of government officials headed to Peking to pay homage to their new SE Asian masters...

The present flow is only till dams reach capacity, UNLESS water is being diverted by China for irrigation or some other use. Once dams reach capacity, if the water is only for hydro electric generation it has to be released, restoring the flow.

There are such dams on the Nile up stream of Egypt, that do not affect river flow levels, due to an agreement reached when Britain ruled Egypt.

The problem will be if China stores too much water, or diverts it for other purposes.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Finally the penny drops...!!!

Most of us knew already.

[Traubert]

1 hour ago, neeray said:

If China wants to control the East China Sea, they just do it (Spratly Islands).

If China wants to have Taiwan or Hong Kong, they'll just take it.

If China wants to control the flow of the Mekong, they'll do as they wish.

The Spratleys are in the South China Sea, maybe you were thinking of the Diaoyou's.

 

Hong Kong is, was and today remains, a Chinese city. If China seriously wants Taiwan, all it has to do is turn off the financial support tap.

 

There's mention of quite a few Laotian, Thai dams downstream from China in the article but seemingly those vanish in the mist when there's Sinophobia in the wind.

[Puchaiyank]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The present flow is only till dams reach capacity, UNLESS water is being diverted by China for irrigation or some other use. Once dams reach capacity, if the water is only for hydro electric generation it has to be released, restoring the flow.

There are such dams on the Nile up stream of Egypt, that do not affect river flow levels, due to an agreement reached when Britain ruled Egypt.

The problem will be if China stores too much water, or diverts it for other purposes.

Or, uses water as a political leverage to get a sweetheart deal to rape natural resources...????