Thailand boosts Mekong flood warning data links

Thailand's water authorities are strengthening data-sharing arrangements with neighbouring Mekong countries to improve warnings of floods, dam releases and water-quality threats.

The Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR) said the system will help it obtain upstream information more quickly, assess likely effects in Thailand and prepare water-management measures and public alerts.

Monitoring stations and dams across the basin

The Mekong runs for about 4,880 kilometres through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. ONWR said changes in rainfall, river volumes, dam operations and water quality in one country can affect downstream communities in another.

Chumlap Tejasen, ONWR's Assistant Secretary-General and spokesman for international water management, said the river must be treated as "a single system covering the entire basin" because water conditions do not stop at borders.

"An important role for ONWR is to coordinate information and cooperation with neighbouring countries through international mechanisms and then integrate that information into Thailand's water-monitoring and management systems," he said.

The agency works through the Mekong River Commission (MRC), formed by Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam under the 1995 Mekong Agreement. As secretariat of the Thai National Mekong Committee, ONWR links the MRC framework to Thailand's domestic water-management operations.

Information from 79 meteorological and hydrological monitoring stations across five countries is now connected to the system. Water-level readings from the Mekong's main channel and tributaries are updated in near real time every 15 minutes.

The Mekong River Commission Secretariat supplies five-day rainfall and water-level forecasts for riverside areas, as well as information on places at risk of flash flooding. ONWR also follows reservoir inflows, releases and storage volumes at 13 major dams in four Mekong countries.

An urgent coordination group involving member-country representatives shares information and sends notices about emergency dam discharges.

"Our goal is not merely to know that the water is coming. We must know early enough to manage it and coordinate with neighbouring countries quickly enough to reduce the impact on people," Chumlap said.

Plans for more coordinated action

ONWR wants regional cooperation to progress from exchanging data to coordinated water management. Proposals include covering more dams, sharing more types of information more frequently, and developing automated transmission systems.

Authorities are also considering advance exchanges of power-generation and water-release plans, alongside quicker and more systematic emergency notifications.

One proposal is to pre-release water from reservoirs where forecasts indicate heavy rainfall and increased inflows. The aim would be to create storage capacity, reduce peak water levels and lower cross-border flood risks, although ONWR said this would require suitable international coordination.

Water contamination also raised regionally

The agency is using the same cooperation channels to address heavy-metal contamination affecting the Kok, Sai and Ruak rivers, which connect to the wider Mekong basin.

ONWR has raised the matter through the MRC, directly with Myanmar and under the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation framework. It brought the issue to an MLC ministerial meeting and sought its inclusion in a draft joint statement by regional leaders.

Picture courtesy of The Nation

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30 August 2026

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