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[justinm at ucr.edu]

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justin

2008-0205 - BKK Post - Samak's plan to divert Mekong water panned

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/05Feb2008_news05.php

Samak's plan to divert Mekong water panned

Isan scheme feasible, say experts, but costly

POST REPORTERS

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's ambitious plan to divert
water from the Mekong river to feed the water-starved
Northeast is ''theoretically possible'' but not worth the
investment, state water management experts have criticised.

Veera Wongsaengnak, deputy chief of the Irrigation Department,
said the prime minister's idea was not new as his department
had conducted a feasibility of the Mekong river water
diversion project years ago, but the scheme had never
materialised because it cost a lot of money and it was
unlikely to be economically viable.

''There are other alternatives cheaper and more effective than
the Mekong water diversion to sustainably solve water
shortages in the Isan region,'' he said.

These included building more reservoirs in the region to store
water for use during the dry season.

Mr Veera also expressed concern over complicated procedures in
utilising water resources from the Mekong, which is an
international river.

The Mekong starts in China and flows through Burma, Thailand,
Cambodia and Vietnam. Water use for the lower basin,
comprising Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, is
regulated by the Mekong River Commission (MRC).

The water management expert's comments came after the
newly-appointed premier on Sunday floated the idea of building
an underground pipeline to divert water from the Mekong river
to the northeastern region.

Under the plan, water from the Mekong river would be diverted
through underground tunnels.

Reservoirs would be built and water pipelines laid down to
transport water to farmland.

Siripong Hungspreug, deputy permanent-secretary for Natural
Resources and Environment, said: ''The project is technically
possible, but the problem is whether it is worth the
investment, while the project's environmental impact should
also be taken into account,'' he said, adding that the
ministry would update the government on MRC regulations about
Mekong water utilisation so that policies would be in line
with the regional agreement.

Montree Chantarawong, campaign coordinator of the
Bangkok-based Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional
Alliance (Terra), said the Samak government should learn from
the previous Mekong-Chi-Mun water diversion project which
aimed to divert water from the Mekong to the Chi and Mun rivers.

The project was shelved as it caused widespread soil salination.

The region has a vast area of salt deposits which would wreak
havoc upon farmland in those areas near waterways or reservoirs.

Mr Montree suggested Mr Samak dust off the Thaksin
government's one-village-one-reservoir scheme in which each
village has at least one water reservoir.

He said the project was the right way to manage water
resources but it has been poorly managed.
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