Warning of the effects of Chinese dams on the Mekong River, the Save the Mekong Coalition has accused the Mekong River Commission of remaining silent earlier this year as the river experienced record-low water levels, and drought plagued parts of China, Laos and Thailand.
The coalition, a network of NGOs and river activists, accused the MRC of failing to warn the public of the water levels soon enough and failing to provide enough information about the effect of hydropower dams on the river.
According to a statement from the river coalition, media reports in February indicated that for five consecutive months the Mekong River had recorded water levels below those of the same period the year before.
However, according to the river coalition, the MRC, an intergovernmental body comprising Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, waited a further two weeks before releasing a statement on the dire situation.
Despite clear warning signals, “the MRC Secretariat’s failure to warn the public and instigate precautionary actions amounts to a serious negligence on its part,” the river coalition said in the statement.
The coalition also said the filling of the reservoir at the Xiaowan Dam on the Mekong in China’s Yunnan province coincided with the point in September 2009 identified by the MRC as the start of the receding water levels.
The MRC responded yesterday, saying that techniques for drought prediction were still underdeveloped and that there was no evidence linking Chinese hydropower dams to the reduction in the flow of the Mekong.
While techniques for predicting events such as floods are relatively advanced, “the science of drought forecasting is very new, even in developing countries,” the MRC said in the statement.
The MRC also said that because of public interest in the issue it will now provide daily updates on its website of data on the Mekong’s levels.
The Save the Mekong Coalition and the MRC agree that the low water levels are affecting drinking and agricultural water supplies, harming local economies in northern Thailand, northern Laos and China’s Yunnan province.
In Cambodia, the Mekong is lower than it was at this time last year but the situation is not as dire as in neighboring countries, government officials said yesterday.
The Stung Treng water resources department said yesterday that a measuring station in the province had on Saturday recorded a level of 1.82 meters on the Mekong, 41 cm below the level recorded on March 18, 2009.
Mao Hak, director of the hydrology department at the Ministry of Water Resources, said that the Mekong’s level was lower than average, but that was due to a cyclical hydrological pattern occurring about every 20 years.
“It is a little low but [the situation] is not critical,” he said of the river.
The MRC said in February the Cambodian portion of the Mekong River had so far escaped the worst of lowered water levels because its tributaries were not in drought-affected areas.
Carl Middleton, Mekong program coordinator for International Rivers, an advocacy organization in the US, wrote in an e-mail yesterday that the upstream drought could threaten downstream Cambodian fisheries, particularly larger fisheries, which would have dire consequences as inland fish make up 80 percent of the animal protein consumed by Cambodians.
Mr Middleton also wrote that the drought situation could worsen.
“As the river is already low and usually gets lower until May, the situation is likely to get worse,” he wrote from Thailand.
(Additional reporting by Chhorn Chansy)
