BANGKOK (Reuters) – China’s Mekong River dams held back big amounts of water throughout a harmful drought in downstream nations last year despite China having higher-than-average water levels upstream, a U.S. research company said in a study.
SUBMIT IMAGE: A general view of the future site of the Luang Prabang dam is seen on the Mekong River outskirt of Luang Prabang province, Laos, February 5,2020 REUTERS/Panu Wongcha-um/File Picture
China’s federal government challenged the findings, saying there was low rainfall during last year’s monsoon season on its portion of the 4,350- km (2,700- mile) river.
The findings by Eyes in the world Inc., a research study and consulting company specialising in water, published in a U.S.-government financed research study, could make complex difficult discussions in between China and other Mekong countries on how to manage the river that supports 60 million individuals as it streams previous Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and through Cambodia and Vietnam.
Last year’s drought, which saw the Lower Mekong at its lowest levels in more than 50 years, devastated farmers and anglers and saw the enormous river recede to expose sandbanks along some stretches and at others turned from its typical dirty brown to bright blue because waters were so shallow.
” If the Chinese are mentioning that they were not contributing to the dry spell, the data does not support that position,” stated Alan Basist, a meteorologist and president of Eyes in the world, which performed the study with financing from the U.S. State Department’s Lower Mek