China and Laos are ‘carefully managing’ water releases from hydropower dams in the Mekong Basin amid heavy rains over the past couple of weeks, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) said Thursday.
In a statement, the MRC Secretariat in Vientiane said ‘persistent and intensified rainfall’ – especially in northern Thailand and Laos – had caused a ‘significant rise’ in water levels in cities on the Mekong mainstream.
The statement said ‘alarm’ levels had been reached in Vientiane as well as Nong Khai and Chiang Khan in Thailand.
Between Aug. 14 and 25, dams located on the Nam Ou tributary in Laos had risen to 80 percent capacity while those in the Nam Tha and Nam Khan tributaries – also in Laos – had reached full capacity.
At Chiang Khan, the Mekong’s water flow doubled from about 8,000 to 16,000 cubic metres per second – reflecting heavy rains, flows from tributaries and releases from hydropower dams on the Nam Ou and Nam Khan tributaries as well as Xayaburi on the Mekong mainstream.
WATER RELEASES ‘INEVITABL
E’ AMID DAM SAFETY CONCERN
The statement said the MRC had contacted the Lancang Mekong Cooperation Water Centre in Beijing as well as the Lao National Mekong Committee, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Vientiane.
China and Laos ‘stated that they are carefully managing discharges, although with their reservoirs at near or full capacities, water releases, due to dam safety concern, are inevitable due to heavy rainfall,’ it said.
On Thursday, however, water releases from dams decreased from Jinghong on the mainstream in China and the Nam Ou tributary in Laos, contributing to smaller releases from the Xayaburi dam further downstream.
LOW FLOOD RISKS AT STUNG TRENG, KRATIE AND PHNOM PENH
‘Stations in Cambodia and Vietnam currently remain below alarm levels,’ the MRC said.
In the coming week, heavy rainfall is possible, especially in the Sekong, Sesan, and Srepok tributaries in northeast Cambodia.
‘However, the flood risk at key downstream stations, in
cluding Stung Treng, Kratie, and Phnom Penh Port, is projected to remain low. Water levels at these stations (will) likely stay well below alarm and flood thresholds.
‘Over the next month, this low flood risk is expected to continue, with water levels remaining below critical levels,’ the statement said.
Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse
