Mekong Dam Monitor (Update for October 7 - 13, 2024)

 

Update for October 7-13

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 Spotlight: Mekong floodpulse achieves normal status in early October This wet season, extreme weather events like Typhoon Yagi helped the Mekong floodpulse achieve a normal level of seasonal inundation for this time of year. The 18,500 square kilometers of healthy seasonal flooding in Cambodia and Vietnam ranks on the low side of normal for early October. If Typhoon Yagi had not occurred, then the floodpulse likely would have not reached normal status, underscoring how the rest of the Mekong was very dry for much of the wet season. Without the impact of upstream dams, the current state of seasonal inundation would have been higher. In the last few years, the floodpulse has peaked in late October, but current river levels suggest that the floodpulse has already peaked. A normal floodpulse translates to normal fish catches and normal agricultural productivity in the coming months as the Mekong transitions into the dry season.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK Typhoon Yagi’s floods created different outcomes in different parts of the Mekong in September The flooding brought by Typhoon Yagi in September was disastrous for people living along the Thai-Lao border, but it created different outcomes along the course of the river. In Thailand, Yagi sent September flow at Nakhon Phanom to levels 27% higher than normal, while Yagi buoyed the Mekong’s flow to normal historical levels at Chiang Saen as well as Stung Treng, Cambodia. Dam restrictions did little to mute the effect of Yagi. The only large dam restrictions observed in September were in Lao’s core dams (2.75 billion cubic meters). These dam restrictions reduced flow to Nakhon Phanom by 5% and to Stung Treng by 3%.

Where is the water? A large net restriction of 1.2 billion cubic meters was observed last week across 15 dams we monitor. 1.17 billion cubic meters of these restrictions were from Nuozhadu in China, which reached its maximum storage capacity last week for the first time in four years. The Ubol Ratana in Thailand also restricted 125 million cubic meters.

Reservoir Storage Time Series

River Levels River levels throughout the basin are now below normal and trending downward. The Tonle Sap River level remains about one meter below normal and is starting to trend downward.

Chiang Saen Gauge Stung Treng Gauge

Weather & Wetness Extreme wetness dominated the Mekong’s headwaters in China, and there were a few areas of extreme wetness around the Golden Triangle. However much of the rest of the basin was drier than expected.  Vietnam’s delta was slightly wetter than expected for this time of the year.

Mekong Dam Monitor in the News

• MDM's floodpulse analysis is discussed in this AP article about eel farmers on the Tonle Sap Lake.