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In keeping with the Nationwide Middle for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the Mekong Delta area, the place the Mekong River reaches the ocean, has acquired a quantity of water that’s 15-20 % larger than the typical of earlier years in April.
For Could and June, the degrees are anticipated to extend 20-30 % year-on-year, the middle stated.
The water stage within the Tien River, a department of the Mekong, was measured at 1.45 meters final Thursday, which is 0.4 meters larger than the identical interval final yr and 0.5 meters larger than the typical of prior years.
On the identical day, the water stage within the Hau River, the opposite Mekong department within the delta, stayed at 1.65 meters, which was 0.5 meters larger than final yr and 0.7 meters larger than the typical beforehand.
The water stage enhance has been ascribed to China releasing water from its hydropower dams alongside the Mekong River.
In keeping with the Mekong River Fee, the quantity of water getting into Mekong Delta by means of the 2 stations on the Hau and Tien rivers in March elevated by 30 % towards the identical interval final yr to 12.3 billion cubic meters.
Nguyen Huu Thien, an unbiased marketing consultant based mostly in Can Tho, a metropolis in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, stated the rising water stage will assist the delta address salt intrusion and drought because the area experiences its dry season.
Nonetheless, in the long run, it could go away unfavourable impacts, he stated.Ever since Mekong Delta was shaped, generations had trusted the annual floodwaters to inundate their fields earlier than sowing their seeds.
Normally, flooding would begin in late July or early August and stay till November and even later, blessing the area with extraordinary fertility because it deposits silt from upstream areas.
Nonetheless, in recent times, upstream dams and local weather change impacts have altered the routine.
In keeping with consultants inside and outdoors Vietnam, these dams maintain again water and forestall it from flowing into downstream areas, thus decreasing the quantity of sediment and fish which might be supposed to maneuver from upstream to downstream each annual flood season.
With China releasing dam water through the dry season, Thien stated, it will trigger dysfunction as a result of it signifies that through the flooding season in July, August and September, there can be little and even no floods throughout Mekong Delta.
The state of affairs will result in chaos for the ecosystem, he stated.
The Mekong has suffered three years of extraordinarily low circulation and drought through the moist season. When moist season circulation is low, the Mekong’s fisheries and agricultural productiveness endure essentially the most. Low circulation and drought are principally brought on by an absence of rainfall, however upstream dams additionally contribute to moist season droughts by storing important quantities of water, Brian Eyler, Southeast Asia program director and Mekong Dam Monitor Co-Lead, Stimson Middle, instructed a digital occasion February.
He stated China has accomplished 129 dams alongside the river, 11 of them the biggest mainstream dams. A lot of the Mekong water, as a lot as 56 %, is held in China.
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