Farms, Fishermen Suffer As Waters Dry Up

[george]

Farms, fishermen suffer as waters dry up

Just two years ago the river burst its banks, with flooding at a 30-year high; now sand bars dominate the landscape

Less than two years ago people living along the banks of the swollen Mekong river watched in fear as the water level rose to a 30-year high.

Officials from Nong Khai, Nong Bua Lamphu and Udon Thani scurried to avert a crisis as hundreds of thousands of rai of farmland were inundated.

Yet their worst fears never materialised and the water finally receded. And it continued to recede to what is now described as a 20-year low.

Signs of trouble began in November last year when a group of tobacco farmers in Nong Khai cried for help as their crops slowly died.

A water storage pond was excavated in a sand dune which formed as the water level fell. A month later the sand dune was 300 metres wider.

The water in the Mekong river has reached a critical point, 2.6 metres deep. Its normal depth during the dry season is 4 to 5 metres.

Saeng Phutthasrinont, 67, who farms in Ban Nong Bua in Nong Khai's Muang district, has never seen such a sharp drop in the river.

Sompong Tonadej, 42, a fish farmer of Ban Haad Kham, said he would have thought it was April already had he relied on his fisherman's instincts.

``The lack of water has seriously affected those of us who raise fish in the river. We have to move everything as the waters recede. We're now almost at the deepest water channel, which is used as a border marker,'' he said.

In Ubon Ratchathani, the level in the Mekong is about 2.4 metres below the water level at the same period last year. It was 3.5 metres deep on Jan 18 last year, but only 1.9 metres deep when measured on Jan 1 this year.

Luem Chumsingh, an official at a hydro-station in Khong Chiam district, attributes the drop to the massive diversion of water from the river to farmland.

``Both Thai and Lao farmers use a lot of water from the Mekong, and it hasn't rained much this year,'' said Mr Luem.

Mr Luem hesitates to blame it on the Chinese hydro-power dams in the upper part of the river.

Pol Sgt-Maj Thonglek Chanusap, a marine policeman in Khong Chiam district, said although the water level is extremely low this year, it does not yet pose a problem for law enforcement.

``Even so, this year we can walk across the river to Laos,'' he said.

Payom Himwan, of Ban Nong Phu Noi in Khong Chiam district, said life has never been so hard for fishermen along the Mekong.

``It's not just that there is so little water, the water level fluctuates all day. We don't know if it's the Chinese dams, but Pak Moon dam releases water to produce power in the evening,'' he said.

The lack of water has taken its toll on trade and transportation.

Sermchai Kittirattanapaiboon, chairman of Chiang Rai provincial chamber of commerce, said trade had suffered. ``Some businessmen are thinking about shifting to Bangkok ports. I think it's time for the government to discuss the issue with China,'' he said.

Charin Inmuang, manager of Chiang Saen port in Chiang Rai, said there were 191 cargo vessels in January compared with 242 in the same period last year.

The shallow river made navigation difficult.

Mr Charin said China planned to blast 11 rapids in the Mekong between January and April to open the river to commercial navigation. The Chinese government had spent 210 million baht clearing the channel.

``So I guess China really considers the Mekong river as a main transportation route,'' he said.

Sathian Deekaew, chairman of the fishermen's association, said his group was concerned about their livelihoods if the situation was allowed to continue.

``We're worried 100 species of fish will become extinct. For the past three years none of us has spotted a giant catfish,'' he said.

Local people say life has become hard.

Phol Thammawong, 45, a fisherman and a tobacco farmer of Ban Had Bai in Rim Khong in Chiang Khong district, said for generations people had gone fishing at this time of the year.

``But we haven't been able to for the past three years. The water level fluctuates all the time and it's totally unpredictable.

``This is really bad for the people who depend on the river,'' he said.

And it is not only the Thai people who feel the changes.

Ta, a Lao national who crews on a Chinese cargo vessel, agreed the water level was the lowest for many years. ``During the journey the crew have to frequently test the depth with a long wooden pole, to avoid crashing into a sand dune,'' he said.

--Bangkok Post 2004-03-11

[et33.com]

mmm...

what's the name of the dam project to collect water in china ?

three gorge dam project or something ?

mmm...

[george]

WATER SHORTAGE:

Rivers fall to lowest levels in 25 years, salinity up

Water levels in several major rivers are at their lowest in 25 years, while salinity in the Bang Pakong river has exceeded acceptable standards due to a severe shortage of fresh water upstream, said irrigation chief Samart Chokkanapitak.

The water level in the Moon river in Ubon Ratchathani was one centimetre, below the lowest level recorded at 19 cm in 1998.

In the Yom river, the water merely covered its bed and was lower than its lowest level, in 1998, of 7 cm. The Lao river in Chiang Rai was also below its lowest level of 5 cm in 1999.

The department is also worried about increasing salinity in the Bang Pakong river in Chachoengsao which has reached 5.5 grammes a litre, against an ''acceptable'' level of only 2 grammes.

''The residents of Prachin Buri's Muang district are likely to be affected by the river's high salinity,'' he said.

However, water storage in the country's major dams would be sufficient for consumption throughout this year's dry season if rice farmers agreed to skip planting third crops, Mr Samart said.

Rice farmers in Chainat, Suphan Buri, Chachoengsao and Ayutthaya had ignored the department's warning and continued planting their third crops on about 100,000 rai. The crops would probably be destroyed by the drought. ''We will not be responsible because the farmers turn a deaf ear to our advice,'' he said.

The worst-hit areas would probably be river basins without large dams, such as the Bang Pakong river basin. Long-term solutions would require the construction of more large dams. For this, cooperation from the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's permanent secretary, Plodprasop Suraswadi, who oversees the nation's protected forests, would be needed, said Mr Samart.

--Bangkok Post 2004-03-13

[englishoak]

Hmmm could be just coincedence of course or mabe ..... just mabe the dam project in China has an effect on the delta ???

No of course not, they wouldn't build a dam without research into the consequences further afield.

Of course Thailands strong links with China will sort it out if there is a problem

[george]

Water level at Mekong down to 20-year low

As the water levels drop, six countries which share the river are forced to study ways to protect crops and fish stocks

BANGKOK - As the dry season grips Thailand's drought-prone north-east, farmers, fishermen and traders who use the mighty Mekong are alarmed that the river has plunged to its lowest level in 20 years.

Locals blame China's big dams upstream but experts say only 20 per cent of the river's water comes from China. The rest comes from the mountains of Laos and Vietnam.

Across Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, increasing volumes of water are being drained from the river to support the expanding farmlands converted from tracts of forests.

This year's water crisis is a taste of things to come, experts from the Phnom Penh-based Mekong River Commission (MRC) warned in Bangkok last week as they formally joined a global research effort aimed at 'producing more food with less water'.

With huge development plans slated for the Mekong - including dozens of dams - tension over water represents a major challenge for the six countries that share the river.

There is also conflict between the needs of agriculture - 32 million tonnes of rice per year - and those of the fishing community which extracts around two million tonnes of fish annually.

Many of the fish are migratory species which depend on uninterrupted waterflow and an annual flooding cycle to survive and breed.

The water level has fallen so dramatically that locals can walk across the river to Laos under the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge in Nong Khai province.

But there is an additional problem - the level fluctuates every day and that is harming fish. The daily catch has dropped drastically.

For Thailand, the Mekong issue is extremely serious, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Dr Siripong Hungspreug told journalists last week.

The north-east Isaan region, home to 23 million people, is the country's biggest rice and cassava producer, with more than 55 per cent of Thailand's rice paddies and around half of all arable land.

'We are losing forests to farms that cannot remain fertile for more than two or three years. There is also very little irrigation, and a serious water deficit,' Dr Siripong said.

Dams on the Mekong, largely for electricity generation, are another worry.

China plans to build as many as eight dams on the river in Yunnan.

Critics say its unilateral decisions on the Mekong may ruin the river for downstream countries, which also plan large dams.

But deforestation in Laos and Vietnam may affect the river more than China's dams.

Dr Robyn Johnston, basin development planner for the MRC, said: 'The issue of the Chinese dams is not so likely to be one of withholding water, but one of changes in the flow, especially in the dry season when the flow may actually increase. We don't know the effect it will have on fish.'

The MRC groups Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Yunnan province. China is not a member and neither is Myanmar - but they are dialogue partners.

Some US$10 million (S$17.2 million) has been committed to research on water management and governance, which MRC experts hope will lead to better decision-making.

'It's as much about thinking ahead and preventing conflict as managing conflict,' Dr Johnston said.

--Straits Times 2004-03-16