Ecological problems caused by China's blasting of rapids in the Mekong River are likely to pale beside the damage a planned series of massive dams could cause.
According to Rivers Watch East and Southeast Asia, a network of NGOs and grassroots groups, water levels in the Mekong are 'drastically' lower than normal, and the group blames two dams built by China in the river's upstream reaches to generate hydroelectric power.
The river, known as the Lancang Jiang in China, had no dams until 1995, when China began building the 1,500 megawatt Manwan dam. It, as well as the 1,350 megawatt Dachaoshan dam, are operating at close to capacity. Construction is about to begin on a third, the 4,200 megawatt Xiaowan dam, which will be one of the highest in the world at 292 metres.
Travel writer Joe Cummings, who penned the Lonely Planet guides to Thailand and Laos and lives in Chiang Mai, warned this week that the change in river levels should be a 'wake-up call' for Thailand and other nations downstream.
'China has plans to construct 26 more dams along the Mekong or its immediate tributaries,' he wrote to several Thai newspapers. 'Thailand ought to look into the history of a similar case involving the US and Mexico last century. Both once shared the abundant outflow of the 3,200km Colorado River. On the Mexican side of the border, the vast Colorado River Delta served all manner of farmlands, thorn forests, mangroves and wildlife.'
During the course of the 20th century, the US government built 10 dams, which progressively reduced the Colorado's flow to a trickle by the time it got to Mexico. 'Today, the Delta has been transformed into a barren, saline desert,' he wrote.