"Mekong"

Residents in eight provinces bordering the Mekong River have been warned to beware of rising water levels until May 19.

The level of Mekong River is expected to continue rising for a week as China’s Jing Hong Dam has been releasing water at 1,590 cubic metres per second on average since Monday due to heavy rains, the Office of National Water Resources said on Thursday.

Low water flows in the Mekong River are to blame for the lack of clean water supply in Phnom Penh and surrounding areas, a senior official said while also expressing optimism that the issue might be resolved next year when several clean water facilities are slated for completion.

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has released two reports that show fishing continues to be an important livelihood in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. However, the reports also indicate that overfishing and habitat degradation caused by rapid population growth, infrastructure development, and climate change are placing pressure on the Lower Mekong Basin’s fisheries.

Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone developers in Bokeo province have asked the province’s Covid-19 taskforce to ease the procedures around the importing of workers, so that operations can take place with less disruption.

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) and Israel, represented by its Agency for International Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, last week signed a pack that will see both sides confront some of the challenges facing the Mekong River, according to MRC

Recorded water levels in the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB) saw significant increases during the last seven days as a result of heavy rainfall and sudden water releases from dams, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat says. But river levels across all monitoring stations remain lower than their alarm or danger points.

The rise can be attributed to Tropical Storm Cempaka, which has now weakened into a tropical depression, bringing heavy rain to Northern Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin during the past few days, coupled with the scheduled release of water from the Nam Ou Hydropower Dam.

As the US and its allies joined hands last week to expose what they allege to be China’s Ministry of State Security’s malicious cyber activities around the world, the attention also turned to Cambodia with the US Department of Justice claiming that four Chinese hackers stole data concerning the Mekong River from a Cambodian ministry in January of 2018.

The French Government granted EUR 1.5 million to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to monitor rainfall and river flow in order to better understand flow changes and the corresponding impacts on development projects.

HCM CITY – The Mekong Delta needs VNĐ338 trillion (US$16.5 billion) in the next five years to upgrade its traffic infrastructure, improve water storage and mitigate riverbank and coastal erosion.

Mekong River levels in northern Thailand are continuing to drop after China halted release of water from its Jinghong Dam in Yunnan.