Govt addresses Mekong water worries

The government will spend more on irrigation stations in Vientiane if the water level in the Mekong continues to fall, the Director General of the Vientiane Agriculture and Forestry Department (VAFD), Mr Latsanivong Amarathithada, reported at a government meeting yesterday.

The level of the river is still dropping but the decrease has slowed this month. The average rate of fall is now about one centimetre per day.

“In the present conditions, we don't need more money because pumps on boats can still function adequately,” Mr Latsanivong said.

Electricite du Laos, Vientiane's water supplier Nampapa Nakhoneluang and the Vientiane Agriculture and Forestry Department each reported on the effects of the low water levels.

If water levels decrease by five or six centimetres per day, the government will buy pipes to bring water from the boats to the irrigation stations as well as electric cables for the pumps.

According to the VAFD, the Mekong was dropping very quickly in early February, at a rate of about 10 centimetres per day.

Towards the end of February, the rate fell from 10 to 5 centimetres per day, when the VAFD built boats and installed pumps on them in the middle of the river.

Mr Latsanivong said Vientiane has 31 irrigation projects which were all suffering from water shortages.

“We have now installed pumps on boats to feed 11 irrigation stations, which supply water to rice growers in Vientiane,” he said.

The government has spent about 1.4 billion kip on installing the pumps on boats and making channels to bring water to the stations.

Irrigation projects on other rivers such as the Nam Ngum are not affected because they have enough water. Only the irrigation systems on the Mekong have a problem with low water levels.

The Vientiane water supplier, Nampapa Nakhoneluang, will start pumping water on boats in two days' time.

“We currently have a problem at the Kaoliew water tank because most of this stretch of the river has become a sandbank over the last month,” company Director Daophet Boupha said.

The company has three water tanks in Vientiane, at Kaoliew, Chinaimo and Dongmakkhai, and they can usually produce about 160,000 cubic metres of water per day.

“At present, we can only produce about 130,000 cubic metres of water daily because the Kaoliew water tank is not operational throughout the day,” Mr Daophet said.

However, after boats have pumped water from the middle of the river, the tank should be able to provide water all day long.

Some residents of Sithan Neua village in Sikhottabong district, Vientiane, told the Vientiane Times their water supply was intermittent yesterday morning, with no water at all on the second floor of their house, which meant they were unable to use the shower.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Asang Laoly.

By Khonesavanh Lathsaphao
(Latest Update March 4 , 2010)