By Kay Johnson and Panu Wongcha-um
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Water levels in the Mekong River have dropped to a “worrying level” in part due to outflow restrictions from Chinese hydropower dams upstream, the Mekong River Commission (HRC) said on Friday, appealing to Beijing for all its water data.
The vital waterway has turned blue along the Thai-Laos border, due to its usual dark brown color – indicating shallow water and low levels of nutrient-rich sediment – in part due to outflow restrictions from Jinghong Dam in Yunnan Province, China. the intergovernmental MRC said.
Friday’s statement said low rainfall and dams on the Lower Mekong and tributaries also contributed to the drop in levels.
“There were sudden rises and falls in water levels immediately downstream from Jinghong and further down to Vientiane,” said Winai Wongpimool, director of the MRC Secretariat’s technical support department.
Such fluctuations affect fish migration, agriculture and transportation on which nearly 70 million people rely for their livelihoods and food security.
“To help the Lower Mekong countries manage risks more effectively, we call on China and the Lower Mekong countries to share their water release plans with us,” Winai said.
According to the MRC, normal conditions can be restored if large amounts of water are released from the Chinese dams’ storage dams.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry disputes the findings of the MRC, adding that there are many causes of drought in the downstream direction.
China promised last year to share data from it with MRC member states Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
In January, Beijing notified neighbors that its dams had filled storage dams until January 25.
The outflow levels at Jinghong Dam were 785 cubic meters per second in early January before rising to 1,400 cubic meters per second in mid-January, the MRC said.
However, levels dropped again in February and were 800 cubic meters per second on Thursday, the MRC said. The statement does not mention any recent announcement from Beijing.
China has said that the outflow of the dam has been constant at more than 1,000 cubic meters per second since the end of January, a level that he says is almost twice the natural flow of the river. It calls on the MRC to prevent public misunderstandings from being caused.
(Additional report by Yew Lun Tian in Beijing; Edited by Ed Davies and Steve Orlofsky)