Low water levels in the Mekong River above Pakbeng district in Oudomxay province have stopped the popular tourist ‘slow boat' trip north of Luang Prabang.
A boat travelling south last Friday was stranded some distance upriver of the midway stopover at Pakbeng due to low water and navigation difficulties.
Passengers, who were mostly tourists, spent the night on the beach before walking around the barrier and were picked up by another boat the next morning.
Other passengers chose to take small speedboats that were quickly on the scene.
“We were on our way to the Elephant Festival and did not want to miss it, so we took the speed boat,” said one Canadian tourist who did not want to be named. “But they charged us a very high fee.”
Visitors to the festival will have to return to Luang Prabang or Vientiane by road. An official from ElefantAsia said they were very disappointed the slow boats had stopped running at this crucial time.
While some of the younger passengers said they enjoyed the experience, other visitors who were forced to take speed boats complained that they were noisy and cramped with up to eight passengers.
Why the Mekong in Laos dry up this year? Global warming? Or Chinese dam's impact ?
Remember the flood in 2008 in vientiane, due to big rainfall in the northern laos and southern china which caused the rising of Mekong level and flown into the village in vientiane and southern Laos.
In 2009, Not much rain in southern china and also Laos, the dams have to preseve the water, and the dams in Laos have to keep the water as well. which causes the Mekong is shallow.
Why the Mekong in Laos dry up this year? Global warming? Or Chinese dam's impact ?
Remember the flood in 2008 in vientiane, due to big rainfall in the northern laos and southern china which caused the rising of Mekong level and flown into the village in vientiane and southern Laos.
In 2009, Not much rain in southern china and also Laos, the dams have to preseve the water, and the dams in Laos have to keep the water as well. which causes the Mekong is shallow.
- Not rain much in 2009. why???
-why Laos still building more dams, why??
-climate change affecting Laos, is it right??
It is both. Currently Asian countries are experiencing drought. Yunnan, China is actually suffering already from the el nino phenomenon. There isnt enough water to irrigate their fields, even to use for day-to-day water needs is threatened.
China is holding up water in their dams to have adequate supply. THey are upstream and in a more advantageous situation than neighboring Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, which are experiencing greater impact casused by worsening drought.
Thailand authorities are actually on negotiation with China to release more water to the Mekong because they too are already feeling the lack of adequate water supply for irrigation from the Mekong. SO they are in the same situation in Laos.
The floods in 2008 was caused by the release of excess water from the dam in China when they had this heavy downpour. If they will not release excess water the damn walls will be at risk for collapsing and the result would be more catasthropic for both China, Laos and other neighbors downsteram.
HANOI — Water levels in the northern Mekong River are at record-low levels, posing a threat to water supply, navigation and irrigation along a stretch of water that is home to millions, a regional official said.
Northern Thailand, northern Laos and southern China have all been affected, Jeremy Bird, chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) secretariat, told AFP.
"The flows are much lower than we've got records on in the last 20 years," said Bird, whose inter-governmental body deals with all Mekong River-related activities including fisheries, agriculture and flood management.
"Now what we're seeing is these flows are reducing even more," Bird said from Laos on Thursday.
More than 60 million people in the lower Mekong basin depend on the river system for food, transport and economic activity, the MRC says, adding that it is home to the world's most valuable inland fishery.
Bird said 21 cargo boats have reportedly been stranded because of the shallow river water in southern China.
A regional drought has caused the water to drop, the MRC said.
"Severe drought will have an impact on agriculture, food security, access to clean water and river transport and will affect the economic development of people already facing serious poverty," it said in a statement.
"The northern provinces are amongst the poorest areas for both Lao PDR and Thailand."
River tour operators have stopped offering services on the river between the Laotian tourist centre of Luang Prabang and Huay Xai on the Thai border, the MRC said.
Officials in Laos have started advising people to reduce water consumption.
Bird said it is difficult to say whether global warming is responsible but the wet season in Vientiane last year was one of the worst on record, and was followed by much lower than average rain late in 2009 and early this year.
As a result, there has been very low water flow in the Mekong's tributaries.
"The rainfall in China is also extremely low," Bird said.
Thai non-governmental groups believe the unusually low levels are caused by Chinese dams, according to reports in the Bangkok Post.
There are eight existing or planned dams on the mainstream Mekong in China, the MRC has said.
"It's difficult for us to say categorically that there's no link" between the low water levels and those dams, Bird said.
But he added it would not be normal for dams to be filled during the dry season.
The Nation newspaper in Bangkok reported that Thailand would ask the MRC to negotiate with China for the release of more water from its Mekong dams to alleviate downstream drought.
Bird said the commission has not yet received any formal request from Thailand. If it does, the MRC would discuss with China the possibility of releasing water.
"This is one area where the dams upstream would actually be beneficial," he said, because once the hydropower projects are in service they should lead to 30-40 percent more dry-season water flow.
China and Myanmar are dialogue partners with the MRC which groups Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
MRC data show that water levels on the Mekong in Cambodia are not as low as in the north, which Bird said is explained by factors such as different regional rainfall systems.
For the north, the problem is only set to get worse.
"The flows will probably continue to reduce for another month," Bird said.
The current water level on the mainstream Mekong River is significantly below average in Northern Lao PDR and Thailand. Levels at mainstream measuring stations at Chiang Saen, Chiang Khan, Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Nong Khai are below those that occurred in the low flow season of 1993, which followed the most extreme regional drought on record in 1992.
It is too early in the dry season to say whether or not this indicates record low water levels for the mainstream Mekong, however all mainstream water levels measured north of Strung Treng are significantly below the average for this time of year and are expected to decrease further for another month. Similarly, the river levels in Southwestern China have been at their lowest in 50 years, with water flowing at only half the level that would be considered normal for February.
Such low water levels on the mainstream Mekong are the result of drought conditions in Northern Thailand and Lao PDR and are part of a wider regional drought being experienced upstream in Yunnan Province in China. The 2009 flood season was drier than normal with wet season river levels in Vientiane for example being among the 5th lowest levels on record in the last 98 years.
Starting from that low base, analysis of the rainfall at selected hydrological stations in Yunnan, Chiang Saen and Luang Prabang has shown a consistent pattern of monthly precipitation significantly below average amounts since September 2009. For example the rainfall recorded at Chiang Saen, Thailand in November and December 2009 was only 20 mm compared to the long term average of 52mm for the same period and this has contributed to the low river flow. The very low water levels recorded at monitoring stations in the mainstream between Chiang Saen and Nong Khai show that tributaries in Laos and Thailand are not feeding as much water into the mainstream as would be expected. For instance, this can be seen with the Nam Khan River that flows into the Mekong at Luang Prabang. Water levels in the Nam Khan are the lowest for fifty years.
The implications of these low water levels are serious for the people of Northern Lao PDR and Thailand. Severe drought will have an impact on agriculture, food security, access to clean water and river transport and will affect the economic development of people already facing serious poverty. The northern provinces are amongst the poorest areas for both Lao PDR and Thailand.
River tour operators have stopped offering services on the stretch of river between Houiesay and Luang Prabang in Laos and it has been reported that Yunan provincial authorities have halted the operation of Chinese cargo boats which will affect regional trade. The National Centre for Environmental Health and Water Supply in Lao PDR has started advising people to counter the effects of drought by reducing water consumption.
The MRC is undertaking more detailed assessments of the low flow conditions and is working with its Member Countries to closely monitor the drought situation as well as integrating drought management considerations into its climate change adaptation initiative. See more information on Mekong River water mornitoring.
