Mekong Dam Monitor (Update for April 8 - 14)

 

Update for April 8-14

Notable changes on the Mekong in the last week. Visit the Monitor home for more, including Burmese, 中文, Khmer, ພາສາລາວ, ไทย, and Tiếng Việt translation.

SPOTLIGHT Extreme Heat Scorches the Mekong From central Yunnan province in China all the way to the Mekong Delta, the Mekong Basin is experiencing much higher than normal temperatures. Much of southern Laos and Cambodia are experiencing temperatures 5-7 degrees Celsius higher than normal, and the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia are experiencing temperatures 7-9 degrees higher than normal. Mid-April typically is the hottest time of the year in the Mekong, but this heat wave is extraordinary.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK Drought Developing Adjacent to Irrigated Fields in the Mekong Delta Media reports suggest severe drought is forming in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, but our surface wetness maps show a unique pattern of drought forming in the delta’s coastal provinces while a majority of the delta is wet. What drives this pattern? The wetness observed through much of the delta is from irrigation used for dry season rice production, but along Vietnam’s coast, salinity intrusion has penetrated rivers and canals rendering them useless for irrigation. Fields which cannot be irrigated with freshwater are drying out at a rapid rate.

Where is the water? Dry season releases for hydropower production were moderate throughout the basin last week with a net release of just over 700 million cubic meters of water. The most significant releases came from Nam Ngum 1 (LAO, 128 million cubic meters), Nam Ngum 2 (LAO, 252 million cubic meters), and Nam Theun 2 (LAO 126 million cubic meters).

Most Impactful Dams

River Levels River levels are low from Chiang Saen to Nakhon Phanom. From Pakse downstream, river levels are close to normal. The Tonle Sap is slightly lower than normal for this time of year.

Chiang Saen Gauge Stung Treng Gauge

Weather & Wetness Much of the basin is showing extremely high temperatures. The headwaters in China were unusually wet for this time of year while most of the lower basin is much drier than normal. Irrigation for farming in Vietnam is making most of the Mekong Delta extremely wet, but a few small pockets of extreme dryness are observed along the coast.

Mekong Dam Monitor in the News

• AP covers how the extreme heat wave is impacting policy approaches to the water festival in Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos