Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh toured several irrigation stations in Vientiane yesterday to see the steps taken by the Irrigation Department to ensure water can still be pumped from the Mekong, which has fallen to an unusually low level.
Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh ( centre right ) and his delegation visit the Mark Hio irrigation project in Pakngum district, Vientiane.
Mr Bouasone and a group of senior officials visited irrigation stations that supply water to rice farms, including Mark Hio village in Pakngum district, Dongphosy in Hadxaifong district, and the Vientiane Water Supply Development Project at Kaoliew village in Sikhottabong district.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Irrigation Department has said the low river levels are affecting crop yields, especially rice, in Vientiane and in Borikhamxay province.
The department's Director General Dr Khamphad Sourinphoumy said the falling level of the Mekong was a major problem and the government was urgently trying to seek solutions.
“After we realised we had a problem last month we reported the matter to the government and officials agreed to allocate funding to resolve the issue,” he said.
Eight irrigation stations in Vientiane are affected, with most situated on the Mekong riverbank in Pakngum, Hadxaifong and Sikhottabong districts. Another six stations in Borikhamxay province are at risk of damage due to the low level of the river.
The Irrigation Department has reported that the government spent over 1.8 billion kip to try to solve the problem by digging channels through sandbanks in the river to reach deeper water.
A resident of Mark Hio village said the Mekong was as low as he had ever seen it. In the past, it had only been necessary to dig down two metres to reach water but this year they had to dig down to a depth of about four and a half metres.
Dr Khamphad said the situation was resolved on March 1, and today the Prime Minster was visiting to see for himself how the system was working.
According to a recent press statement from the Mekong River Commission, the 2009 flood season was drier than normal with wet season river levels in Vientiane being among the fifth lowest levels on record in the last 98 years.
The rainfall recorded at Chiang Saen, Thailand, in November and December 2009 was only 20mm 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, which flows into the Mekong at Luang Prabang. Water levels in the Nam Khan are the lowest for 50 years .
Dr Khamphad said only a few provinces were still affected by the problem. In some areas people were digging into the river themselves to reach water, while in other provinces the government would step in to provide assistance
