Chinese dams blamed for exacerbating Southeast Asian drought

[geriatrickid]

And Thailand still thinks the USA will pay attention to the threats that it will get closer to China,

With a friend like that who needs enemies.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed along with replies.

Please stay on topic.

[DeepInTheForest]

The dams built on Lao territory play an important role too in the 'perturbation' of the Mekong's natural flow, but the Lao authorities are not the main wrongdoers, they just arrange to get some money (not a lot) from those main wrongdoers, which are for a large part... Thai companies, like some (state) electricity generating company, several engineering companies, ...and mega construction companies. Why is there no finger pointed at these? Because they are Thai, ...powerfull and wealthy, maybe?

True, we, all, consume too much electricity, caught in the nets of consumerism, but are there no other means to produce electricity in a sustainable way? There surely are, but a little bit less 'cost effective', so, here (as in many other countries) it's the greed of consortiums wanting to make as much profit as possible, not caring one setang for the consequences of their acts.

The BIG question those people are not the slightest busy with is: when we will have destroyed nature, what will we put instead to make money with?

...And there will be electricity shortages, rate increases, etc. ...because there will not be enough water left in the dams, mind you, them not even thinking about farmers, fishermen, general public, ...or nature, as if those businessmen would care a bit, ...but simply to keep their sacred cashcows of hydro-electric installations running!

Even during el nino months, the wind is blowing, the sun is shining, though... The crazy world we're living in, money, money, money, ...more money!

Excellent post. The dams in Lao PDR are bought and paid for by EGAT, which will take almost all of the electricity generated.

The culprit here is the idea that the (Thai) economy must grow, and that electricity is indispensable to growing the economy.

And you are right to finger the engineering and construction companies, who are in bed with the politicians. It is a thoroughly corrupt world we live in.

[Jeremy50]

[edited]

.... I agree with scratchy that the cutting down of large rainforest areas may have more of an affect on a bit of weather in their areas ,but that would be in Indonesia and not Thailand, unless the forests in Northern Thailand are also recently gone.

Good luck to the areas that are affected by this present drought.

Geezer

The entry in wikipedia on "Thailand deforestation" says that between 1945 and 1975 forest cover in the country declined 44 percent-- from 61 percent to 34 percent of the land area.

From 1976 to 1987, forest cover declined another 28%. And from 1987 until now? I'll let you extrapolate.

There is very little of the forest left in Thailand. You can travel provinces like Nan and see that the old growth is gone, replaced by stands of bamboo and eucalyptus plantations, if not bare land, that do not provide nearly the benefit of a healthy forest.

Yes, tree cover affects the amount of rainfall as well as groundwater retention. (The Amazon region is a case in point. Sao Paolo is in danger of losing its water supply for similar reasons.)

Most of Thailand looks like this now, only with more rubbish than can be seen in your shots. You make your bed, you lie in it. An overpopulated country where everyone wants shiny gadgets to play with. As for the Mekong, it's problems have hardly started, the worst is yet to come..........and how.

[Oziex1]

Off topic but relevant, large areas of rainforest in Indonesia and all around SE Asia have been decimated, my gut feeling is that this has had a major effect on climate change but this is never discussed. Shouldn't all countries in the region to working together be looking at reforestation

Yes of course and the world needs to get over it's addiction to cheap palm oil, that is the root cause of the deforestation.

[billd766]

The Chinese dams effect should not be overestimated, especially when it comes to the affect on Thailand's current drought. The Mekong affects Cambodia and Vietnam, yes; Thailand, not so much; however, 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.

It's also important to note that the Mekong only skirts Thailand's border for around 400km. The Chao Phraya watershed, which is the largest watershed in Thailand, covers approximately 35% of the nation's interior, and, as none of its tributaries extend beyond Thailand's borders, it is not affected by the flows of the Mekong.

An interesting link about the water levels in the Mekong river (supposedly in real time).

http://monitoring.mrcmekong.org/012001.htm

[billd766]

I said the Junta is better than any prior elected government or prior military government- I did not say they were perfect by any means. Their coziness to China is simply a ruse to show the West they have other choices. I am not advocating a confrontation with china. I am advocating a firm response and not a belief that China is a long term friend. As far as being daft and a supporter of Donald Trump. I may be daft to some people and I do not support Trump but I do support Bernie Sanders because his vision of America is also my vision. Whether I am daft is open to opinion. I will let history and the future be the ultimate judge of that.

A junta supporting Sanders fan? There's an oxymoron if I've EVER heard one. You know Prayuth is far more akin to a Thai version of Trump don't you? A ultra conservative nationalist...

Can you not keep off politics and give it a rest for at least one thread?

This thread is about the drought in Thailand and you are

[billd766]

Does anyone save water in Thailand. I doubt if i can see a water gutter on any roof here on Samui. During the rainy season, the water just pours off the roof directly into the ground and then into the sea. Then just a few months later they are all moaning about no water ! Thais need educating regarding water conservation.

Try living in rural Thailand where all the houses have gutters and ongs underneath to catch water.

I have 27 ongs for storing water and each one holds about 1.500 usable litres.

You would have thought that would be ample but here in rural Khampaeng Phet the government water supply ran out in the middle of December 2015 and if we are lucky it may come back in July or August depending on the rainfall.

This year the annual rainfall at Khampaeng Phet 65 km away (the nearest weather station) is 22.8 mm for the first 3 months of the year. Not even one inch in old money.

Edited April 3, 2016 by billd766

[jamesbrock]

The Chinese dams effect should not be overestimated, especially when it comes to the affect on Thailand's current drought. The Mekong affects Cambodia and Vietnam, yes; Thailand, not so much; however, 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.

It's also important to note that the Mekong only skirts Thailand's border for around 400km. The Chao Phraya watershed, which is the largest watershed in Thailand, covers approximately 35% of the nation's interior, and, as none of its tributaries extend beyond Thailand's borders, it is not affected by the flows of the Mekong.

An interesting link about the water levels in the Mekong river (supposedly in real time).

http://monitoring.mrcmekong.org/012001.htm

That's an interesting one, thanks.

Just re-reading my post and noticed a typo regarding the Mekong's skirting of Thailand - that should be 'around 940km,' not 'around 400km.' Not sure how that slipped through!

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Those pesky Chinese exacerbaters are at it again.

[keemapoot]

Those pesky Chinese exacerbaters are at it again.

That probably explains why so many Chinese wear glasses. Too much exacerbating causes blindness.

[halloween]

The dams built on Lao territory play an important role too in the 'perturbation' of the Mekong's natural flow, but the Lao authorities are not the main wrongdoers, they just arrange to get some money (not a lot) from those main wrongdoers, which are for a large part... Thai companies, like some (state) electricity generating company, several engineering companies, ...and mega construction companies. Why is there no finger pointed at these? Because they are Thai, ...powerfull and wealthy, maybe?

True, we, all, consume too much electricity, caught in the nets of consumerism, but are there no other means to produce electricity in a sustainable way? There surely are, but a little bit less 'cost effective', so, here (as in many other countries) it's the greed of consortiums wanting to make as much profit as possible, not caring one setang for the consequences of their acts.

The BIG question those people are not the slightest busy with is: when we will have destroyed nature, what will we put instead to make money with?

...And there will be electricity shortages, rate increases, etc. ...because there will not be enough water left in the dams, mind you, them not even thinking about farmers, fishermen, general public, ...or nature, as if those businessmen would care a bit, ...but simply to keep their sacred cashcows of hydro-electric installations running!

Even during el nino months, the wind is blowing, the sun is shining, though... The crazy world we're living in, money, money, money, ...more money!

Yes the sun is shining, and available to generate usable amounts of energy about 8hrs per day. For the rest of the day, there is a requirement for preferably clean energy, and the other attributes of hydro-power, like rapid response for load following are also very nice.

Should we condemn hydro dams for water release (note that none is actually CONSUMED by energy production) during a drought, when that water would have been resting comfortably in the ocean months ago otherwise? The Chinese could have followed the Yingluk model and dumped their dams holdings after the last big wet season, but common sense seems to have prevailed. If they had, who would be be blaming now?

[aussieinthailand]

The dams built on Lao territory play an important role too in the 'perturbation' of the Mekong's natural flow, but the Lao authorities are not the main wrongdoers, they just arrange to get some money (not a lot) from those main wrongdoers, which are for a large part... Thai companies, like some (state) electricity generating company, several engineering companies, ...and mega construction companies. Why is there no finger pointed at these? Because they are Thai, ...powerfull and wealthy, maybe?

True, we, all, consume too much electricity, caught in the nets of consumerism, but are there no other means to produce electricity in a sustainable way? There surely are, but a little bit less 'cost effective', so, here (as in many other countries) it's the greed of consortiums wanting to make as much profit as possible, not caring one setang for the consequences of their acts.

The BIG question those people are not the slightest busy with is: when we will have destroyed nature, what will we put instead to make money with?

...And there will be electricity shortages, rate increases, etc. ...because there will not be enough water left in the dams, mind you, them not even thinking about farmers, fishermen, general public, ...or nature, as if those businessmen would care a bit, ...but simply to keep their sacred cashcows of hydro-electric installations running!

Even during el nino months, the wind is blowing, the sun is shining, though... The crazy world we're living in, money, money, money, ...more money!

Yes the sun is shining, and available to generate usable amounts of energy about 8hrs per day. For the rest of the day, there is a requirement for preferably clean energy, and the other attributes of hydro-power, like rapid response for load following are also very nice.

Should we condemn hydro dams for water release (note that none is actually CONSUMED by energy production) during a drought, when that water would have been resting comfortably in the ocean months ago otherwise? The Chinese could have followed the Yingluk model and dumped their dams holdings after the last big wet season, but common sense seems to have prevailed. If they had, who would be be blaming now?

So you have managed to turn a story of massive scale drought that has a large part not 100% but yeah large part to do with China and dams and abracadabra tadaaaaa YINGLUK,yingluk yingluk,,,, you must be so proud.

Plenty of clean ways to generate power, and harvest water.

But ya hero's more worried about models in the motor show gaoling people with red bowls for Songkran and his great bamboo firewall,(priority's huh)

Edited April 3, 2016 by aussieinthailand

[halloween]

Yes the sun is shining, and available to generate usable amounts of energy about 8hrs per day. For the rest of the day, there is a requirement for preferably clean energy, and the other attributes of hydro-power, like rapid response for load following are also very nice.

Should we condemn hydro dams for water release (note that none is actually CONSUMED by energy production) during a drought, when that water would have been resting comfortably in the ocean months ago otherwise? The Chinese could have followed the Yingluk model and dumped their dams holdings after the last big wet season, but common sense seems to have prevailed. If they had, who would be be blaming now?

So you have managed to turn a story of massive scale drought that has a large part not 100% but yeah large part to do with China and dams and abracadabra tadaaaaa YINGLUK,yingluk yingluk,,,, you must be so proud.

Plenty of clean ways to generate power, and harvest water.

But ya hero's more worried about models in the motor show gaoling people with red bowls for Songkran and his great bamboo firewall,(priority's huh)

What "large part to do with China and dams'? How did either cause a drought, or Thailand's lack of stored water?

Try to get over your being offended that Yingluk's name was mentioned, and instead add some salient facts instead of ill-informed and unsupported biased opinion.