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Information
May/June 2004: Many reports indicate problems with river and lake transportation between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. At best it is taking upwards of 9 hours now (instead of 5) due to the very low levels of the water and at worse some boats are running aground with passengers having to get out and help push the boat off the shoals. Unless you are looking for an adventure, you might want to stay with the $4 buses between the 2 cities. -- Charles
The Tonle Sap
The Tonle (River) Sap lake is the largest lake in Southeast Asia providing
irrigation waters and food for half the population of Cambodia.
The lake is linked to the Mekong at the south end of Sisowath Quay (the riverfront) in the capital, Phnom Penh, at the end of a 100km-long channel between the lake and the confluence of the two massive water systems. It also has the unique distinction that during the wet season (May-October) when the levels of the Mekong rise, the Tonle Sap is backed up and the river reverses direction and starts flowing northwest. During this period the lake enlarges from 2,500 square kilometers to 13,000 square kilometers with the depth increasing from 2.2 meters to over 10 meters. Due to the late rains, this didn't actually start to happen until then end of July in 2004.
As the rainy season ends, the Mekong subsides and the Tonle Sap once again reverses direction. This extraordinary process makes the Tonle Sap one of the world's richest sources of freshwater fish, as flooded forest makes for a fertile spawning ground. Millions are fed from this process with some experts saying that waters as far north as China and their fish stocks are affected by the Tonle Sap.
Dams however are affecting this process and with new ones currently being built (e.g. the Nam Theun 2 Dam in Laos) and others being planned, this sensitive ecosystem is at risk. With Cambodia's population growing at 300,000 people per year, this could have a significant impact on Cambodia's ability to feed its people.
The Mekong
With a length of over 4,200km, the Mekong is the longest river in Southeast
Asia and it has been estimated that over 50 million people depend on it for
their livelihoods.
July 19, 2004 - China's Dams Threaten Mekong, Conservationists Say
April 24, 2004 - Drought Worsens in Thailand and along the Mekong
March 14, 2004 - Water scarcity increasing problem in Mekong delta
1999 -
Taming The Mekong, Killing The Past - Proposed hydroelectric
projects in Southeast Asia
Financing the Greater Mekong Subregion
How will the waters flow?
March 18, 2004 - Environmentalist Warns of Damage From Chinese Damming
BANGKOK—A Thai environmentalist is warning that Chinese dam projects along the upper Mekong River will harm countries downstream, RFA’s Lao service reports.
“China is only thinking of itself,” Thaweevong Seeburee, director of the Institute of Environmental Analysis at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told RFA. “The river is an international waterway flowing through several countries. But when they decide to do something, they don’t think of what will happen to Thailand, [or] Cambodia. There are definitely problems looming in the future.”
China’s southern Yunnan Province, one of the country’s poorest, began building dams in the 1990s to meet their electrical power needs. But problems arose when China closed the dam gates and opened them to let their ships pass through. When the gates closed back up, the water supply was severely diminished to the southern countries.
The countries affected by China’s dam projects are Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Thaweevong Seeburee said that while the Mekong River’s water levels stay the same, Chinese dam projects restrict the water flowing downstream, which results in severe drought and muddy water. If the level of the Mekong River remains too low over time, saltwater may eventually flow upstream, thereby contaminating the Mekong’s fresh water and rendering the water undrinkable and unacceptable for agricultural use.
“Other ecological problems resulting from Chinese damming include the disappearance of giant catfish and of the Mekong weed that is used for food and as a cash crop,” he said.
Another problem is a depletion of the underground water table. In the dry season, villagers who dig wells will have to dig deeper to get to the water, Thaweevong Seeburee predicts.
The Mekong River is the 12th longest river in the world at a length of 4,800 kms. More than 60 million people depend on the river for food, water, and transportation. The yearly periods of floods and dry conditions are important for the production of rice and vegetables.