Dams will kill Mekong River downstream, say experts [-VN gets a taste of what it is doing to Cambodia in Sesan]

A portion of a dike seriously eroded in the Mekong Delta’s Bac Lieu Province in February.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

Dams built upstream on the Mekong River will kill the fish, limit silt and cut off a major water source for agriculture in Vietnam and other downstream nations, experts warn.

As part of a series of eight dams on the upper half of the river, China recently completed the Xiaowan Dam, which is the world’s tallest at 292 meters and whose storage capacity is equal to all Southeast Asian reservoirs combined.

“China’s extremely ambitious plan to build a massive cascade of eight dams on the upper half of the Mekong River, as it tumbles through the high gorges of Yunnan Province, may pose the single greatest threat to the river,” AP cited a United Nations report released last Thursday.