Water level in the Mekong River in Tha Bo district of Nong Khai province rises sharply following China’s dam discharge. (Source: bangkokpost.com)
Bangkok (VNA) – The water level of the Mekong River in Thailand’s northeast province of Nong Khai rose to 1.8 metres on March 19, a 27-cm rise after China released water upriver, a Thai irrigation department official said.
The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier submitted a letter to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, saying that China started releasing water from the Jinghom Dam in Yunnan province to help ease the drought from March 15 to April 10.
Thailand dug 30 reservoirs near the river’s basin in 2015. Temporary pumps have been deployed to suck 15 cubic metres of water per second from the Mekong River to supply water for the Huai Luang area.
According to the Thai Ministry of Irrigation, the pump system is expected to take 47 million cubic metres of water from the river in three months.
A permanent pumping system with a capacity as high as the temporary one’s will be installed.
The country’s government plans to earmark 1.8 billion USD to implement a project to divert water from the Mekong River into Thailand’s waterways.
Drought and salinisation have seriously affected the lives of people in 10 out of Vietnam’s 13 Mekong Delta provinces, with nearly 160,000 hectares of rice destroyed by the phenomenon, from the end of last year till now.
Vietnam proposed that China discharge more water from its hydropower station reservoir to help.
In reply, the Chinese side agreed to release water from its dam to the lower reaches of the Mekong River from March 15 to April 10.-VNA
