China releases water to help Thailand downstream

[webfact]

China Releases Water to Help Countries Downstream
by CityNews



CityNews – March 17th, China releases water to help severe drought.

Lu Kang, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, announced on Tuesday 15th of March that China has released water from Jinghong Dam to help alleviate water shortage in countries downstream which are suffering from the severe drought.

China will release water until April 10th to help Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is believed that China is trying to make a good relationship with neighbourhood countries.

Vietnam’s government has asked China to release water from Jinghong Dam to relieve the severe which has affected its country. So far more than 1 million rice fields in Vietnam and 750,000 rai of fruit farms have been abandoned due to drought. Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, all of which are also affected due to the El Niño phenomenon... [read more]

Full story: http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/news/%EF%BB%BF%EF%BB%BFchina-releases-water-to-help-countries-downstream/


-- Chiang City News 2016-03-17

[robblok]

Yep China is taking much water, it will be hard for people in future with even more dams being build. The one upstream always wins from those downstream. Conflicts can erupt easy. But as China is by far the most powerful they have nothing to fear.

[HooHaa]

it amuses me no end that no one has realised that the drought and dried up rivers could be caused by china.

[robblok]

it amuses me no end that no one has realised that the drought and dried up rivers could be caused by china.

I doubt China can influence rainfall, that has been lower. However the amount of water coming down they can influence to an extent. So it might be that it has made the situation worse. But without knowing how much has actually released before and now we can't state that. But we can compare rain data.

[leeneeds]

The government can ask all Chinese tourists to bring a bottle of water with them,

as part of the entry fee,

pour it into the rivers ,creeks, dams that are dry,

plenty water !

[Strangebrew]

Title should read China holds S.E. Asia hostage by hoarding water in China. It's not like this drought been going on for a few weeks it has been several years.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Strangebrew

[smedly]

it amuses me no end that no one has realised that the drought and dried up rivers could be caused by china.

I doubt China can influence rainfall, that has been lower. However the amount of water coming down they can influence to an extent. So it might be that it has made the situation worse. But without knowing how much has actually released before and now we can't state that. But we can compare rain data.

I don't doubt that China has contributed but is not the total cause of the problem or can be blamed in any way, as you say reduced rainfall, China upstream just makes it harder to manage, as we know there were massive floods not so long ago, very difficult to get it just right.

[ratcatcher]

The government can ask all Chinese tourists to bring a bottle of water with them,

as part of the entry fee,

pour it into the rivers ,creeks, dams that are dry,

plenty water !

And you'll take care of the empty plastic bottles?

[NickJ]

Maybe its plastic water.......or worse.

[cmsally]

http://www.geotimes.org/sept06/NN_Dam.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chinas-three-gorges-dam-disaster/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lori-pottinger/man-made-droughts-_b_872839.html

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=7769

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/chinas_great_dam_boom_an_assault_on_its_river_systems/2706/

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/life_on_mekong_faces_threats_as_major_dams_begin_to_rise/2741/

[ThaiKneeTim]

Dams are useful in that they stockpile water during storms thereby reducing the flood waters, then release water during the dry season. Although nowhere near as big, the UK's longest river, the Severn, used to flood my home town in Worcestershire every spring melt, but since several reservoirs and flood alleviation schemes were built upstream the problem has more or less gone.

When dams are built on rivers that pass through several countries it is usually done my mutual consent. There are plans to dam the Mekong River but countries downstream are voicing their concerns on how it will impact the river where they are.

Agreements on how much water is drawn off, or more importantly, the management of the outflow, would have to be done by agreement with downstream countries.

Egypt is very worried about dams on the upper reaches of The White Nile, but so much water passed through during the rainy season that it makes much of lowland South Sudan unusable and most of the water goes out to sea too quickly to be useful. A dam upstream would alleviate much of the misery in South Sudan and provide electricity generation whilst allowing a regulated flow through to Egypt's Aswan Dam throughout the year.

Only the pessimists and indoctrinated are seeing evil intent in China's gesture.

[GeorgesAbitbol]

Close all golfs acrosse thailand could also help... but i guess none of the generals want that, especially the one close to donmuang airport

[tukkytuktuk]

China to Supply More Water to Drought-Stricken Mekong Delta

Published on Mar 15, 2016. China will supply more water to help ease the drought-stricken countries in the Mekong Delta, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang at a press conference on Tuesday in Beijing.

The ongoing serious drought is damaging some 160,000 hectares of paddy rice in Vietnam, causing losses of some 5,000 billion Vietnamese dong (about 222.2 million U.S. dollars), and affecting about 290,000 hectares of fruit trees, local media reported Tuesday. Parts of the delta have been experiencing the most serious drought and saltwater encroachment over the past 100 years.

Lu said: "China and countries along the Mekong River on the China-South Asian Peninsula are our friendly neighbors. The people of these countries drink from the same river and they feel dutybound to help each other when in difficulty. We have been aware of the drought that has gripped the countries along the Lancang (in China) and Mekong (outside China) since the end of 2015 due to the impact of the El Nino phenomenon, especially recently, when the drought situation has been worsening, causing great difficulties to the production and life of the people in the Mekong River Delta."

"In such circumstance," he said, "the Chinese government has decided to overcome China's own difficulty and do its utmost to help the neighboring countries. It has decided to open the sluice gates of the Jinghong Hydropower Station from March 15 to April 10 to release water downstream in the hope of easing the drought in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam."

More on: http://newscontent.cctv.com/NewJsp/news.jsp?fileId=346556

[jonclark]

Who owns the water in the Mekong?

[cmsally]

http://www.mrcmekong.org/

http://ffw.mrcmekong.org/

http://ffw.mrcmekong.org/weekly_report/2015/2015-03-16%20Weekly%20Dry%20Season%20Situation%20Report.pdf

http://ffw.mrcmekong.org/weekly_report/2016/2016-03-14%20Weekly%20Dry%20Season%20Situation.pdf

Interestingly it seems the Chinese don't provide data! Unless there is maybe another source.

[cmsally]

http://www.thethirdpole.net/2016/02/01/china-drives-water-cooperation-with-mekong-countries/

http://www.mrcmekong.org/news-and-events/news/china-ready-to-share-data-on-mekong-water-levels-ahead-of-regional-river-summit/

All I see is this supposed agreement to share dry season data, but nowhere is there any data for the Jinghong or Manwan dams.

http://www.meltdownintibet.com/f_river_mekong.htm

[robblok]

http://www.thethirdpole.net/2016/02/01/china-drives-water-cooperation-with-mekong-countries/

http://www.mrcmekong.org/news-and-events/news/china-ready-to-share-data-on-mekong-water-levels-ahead-of-regional-river-summit/

All I see is this supposed agreement to share dry season data, but nowhere is there any data for the Jinghong or Manwan dams.

http://www.meltdownintibet.com/f_river_mekong.htm

I looked through your links, I am not saying those dams are not bad. (i think they are) but I am saying that without knowing how much water they release we can't make a comparison and can't know if they effect the drought extra this year.

[cmsally]

So the 3 million dollar question is... do the Chinese provide data on water levels and release. From what I can see it is "no" in the dry season apart from a special request in 2010 and they supplied it only until the end of the "drought"

So my conclusion would be that the Chinese are not participating in the freedom of information regarding this data. So basically we don't know how much they are effecting the drought. That is probably the way they like it although ignorance in the end is never bliss.

We seem to have a wrath of studies with data supporting how the mass construction and efforts to control water have contributed to drought, surely the onus would be for the Chinese to disprove this. But then the Chinese have their hand gripped around the tap, so maybe not.

[laolover88]

The Mae Nam Kong water levels have been noticeably higher for 2 days. The metereological department has given up forecasting rain, which, I suppose means that some may fall.

Edited March 17, 2016 by laolover88

[rickirs]

China is trying to make a good relationship with neighbourhood countries.

Stockholm syndrome on an international scale.

[stickylies]

Duplicate due to browser refresh. Deleted.

Edited March 17, 2016 by stickylies

[stickylies]

Future wars and massive conflicts will be about water. We all know. Not my problem though as no offspring. I see Thai neighbours cleaning the tires of their car every 2 days... They seem obsessed. Sometimes the water is running for 30-40 minutes cuz they are on the phone or chatting with neighbours. Oh well. Nothing we can say anyway for the sake of face.

[jamesbrock]

It should be noted that only 16% of the Mekong's annual discharge comes through China. The mean annual discharge of the Mekong is approximately 475 cubic kilometres (km3). Of this amount, about 16 per cent comes from China and only 2 per cent from Myanmar. Most of the remainder comes from Lao PDR and the major left bank tributaries, particularly the tributaries that enter downstream of Vientiane-Nong Khai.

A 2005 study by the Mekong River Commission, "Overview of the Hydrology of the Mekong Basin" (PDF) stated that,

"There is little evidence from the last 45 years of data of any systematic changes in the hydrological regime of the Mekong."

and,

There has been a lot of debate about the dry season hydrology of the mainstream and there is a widespread belief that there has been significant change due to upstream reservoir storage in China. Figure 4.8 shows the minimum daily discharge averaged over a sequence of 90-days in each year from 1960 to 2004 for Vientiane and Kratie. Such a “long duration” statistic can be regarded as an effective measure of dry season flow conditions from year to year. The data show that there is no evidence of any systematic change in the low-flow hydrology, either in terms of a long-term increase or decrease in dry season discharge.

robblok, you will find the data you need in the above-linked PDF. It's quite an interesting read.

[robblok]

@jamesbrock,

Thank you for the pdf its interesting indeed, facts always win over opinions.

To be honest I never knew that only 16% came from China but if that is correct and your other quotes then it did not influence the drought and even if they release a lot it won't make much of a difference as only 16% comes from China meaning 85% comes from an other source. So even if they double the output it still would not impact a lot.

[waza]

I would imagine that the deforestation of Thailand has a lot to do with the drought and flooding scenario. Barren land can't hold as much water a a rain forest. Just look at Google map Thailand looks like a desert compared to its surrounding countries

Edited March 17, 2016 by waza

[chowny77]

To be honest China should never had been allowed to damn a natural river that also feeds into other countries, it breaks rules. It is fine if the river only feeds the one country without it being redirected. Could you imagine what the Amazon would be like if the Brazilians just decided to dam it up. There would be world wide outcry. But the bloody Chinese get away with it as they think they are the dog's b^%locks!

[halloween]

yup China dams nothing to do with it... course not...

Incorrect, not nothing, very little. The draining of the storage dams in Thailand had a lot more to do with the water shortage.

[seedy]

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[waza]

Hmm seems the deforestation issue has gained traction with the Thai netizens...........

[anotheruser]

Not sure what impact it is having on the water levels but the Lao government has started blasting to make the new dam in the 4,000 islands area.