There was an article in the Vientiane Times today stating that an upstream dam in China will increase its water discharge to help alleviate the drought in countries lower down the Mekong River, specifically Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We’ve got a fairly severe drought going on here in Laos, and the Mekong is at a very low level. However, Vietnam, according to the article, is suffering through its worst drought in 100 years. You can read the article here.

There is a bit of history with this dam. Back in September of 2014, during a very rainy season in Southwest China, countries downstream from China were placed on high alert due to an increase in discharge rates from the dam that could flood large areas of those countries. I remember the warning, but, though the river rose near the house, we never got any flooding. You can read that warning here.

So, through drought or excessive rain, that one dam and others upstream from us, the first ones built along the once free-flowing Mekong, have the potential to play an important part in the daily lives of millions of people living downstream from it. Could China use that as a political weapon? Possibly, but I don’t think it has done so yet.

Related posts:

  1. Into Vientiane Just outside the Inter City Hotel in Vientiane, along the Mekong, I noticed that there was a lot of new construction, with dirt piled up along the river bank. I...
  2. The Company We Keep Nations sign cluster-bomb ban; U.S., Russia and China refuse Read about the shame HERE From the article: “98 percent of cluster-bomb victims are civilians, and 27 percent are children.” Laos...
  3. Weather Woes As I figured a few posts back, I jinxed Yeosu by talking about the nice spring-like weather. Sure enough, we had around an inch and a half of rain yesterday....