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2008-0619 - The Nation - Nam theun dam reservoir set to be flooded

http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/19/national/national_30075906.php

HYDROPOWER
Nam theun dam reservoir set to be flooded
By Supalak G khundee
The Nation
Published on June 19, 2008

Conditions said to have worsened for moved villagers

The operator of the Nam Theun II hydropower dam in Laos plans to shut the dam's watergates in a week or so to fill its reservoir, amid concerns it is behind in its livelihood programme and it lacks environment protection.

The flooding of the 450 square kilometres is to reserve water for generating 1,070 megawatts of electricity, to be mostly sold to Thailand next year.

The project directly affects 6,200 people living in the Nakai Plateau where the dam is located.

They have been relocated from villages that will be submerged soon.

Their living standards initially improved when they were moved, but as the dam is about to start operations their conditions have worsened.

The 13th report by the International Environmental and Social Panel of Experts (POE) in February said overall living standards had fallen. Most villages appear affected and the conditions can be expected to stagnate or decline further during most of this year because of delays in implementing a "livelihood programme".

The POE was employed as an adviser to the Laos government to monitor social and environmental impact at the dam.

"A further decline is likely if the dam shuts because the settlers will be unable to cultivate draw-down areas for rice during the rainy season this year," it said.

"Buffaloes are dying of disease and there are cases of starvation at many villages and a drop in employment opportunities associated with the construction of the project," the report said.

General concerns for filling the reservoir are biomass clearance and water quality.

Decomposing biomass in flooded areas could spoil water quality. Degraded water quality was observed as levels of dissolved oxygen dropped.

The dam's developer has cleared 1,500 hectares of biomass but shortly before filling the reservoir, an additional 1,500 hectares also required clearance but that has not been done, said conservationist Shannon Lawrence, director of the International Rivers' Lao Programme.

Decomposing matter is not the only problem associated with dams. In many cases, hydropower dams can emit greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming, she said.

Previous studies suggested that the world's largest dams emit 104 million tonnes of methane annually from reservoir surfaces, turbines, spills and water downstream.

This implied the dams are responsible for at least 4 per cent of the total warming.

However, a report from the Nam Theun II developer argued that the dam would offset the use of gas-fired plants, which translates into a saving of over 520 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over a century.

There are many problems in downstream areas raised by the panel of experts and they had not yet been addressed by the developers, Lawrence countered.

Due to its design, the hyropower plant would not release water from its turbine to the same river but to another basin at Xe Bang Fai where some 25,000 to 120,000 people could be affected.

High water levels caused by the dam could result in flood, which takes place every two or three years in the basin.

The dam developer allocated US$ 16 million (Bt534 million) in total resources to help relieve the impact but it may not be adequate.

The real cost should be $80 million to$100 million, said Lawrence .

The panel of experts urged the Asian Development Bank, one of the major financiers, to commit more resources with emphasis on flood management and dry season irrigation.

Another group from 300 to 400 households who lost more than 10 per cent of their productive land to the construction have not yet obtained land compensation since the dam developer could not find new plots to replace old ones.

The second option, which takes time, is to find a new site and develop an irrigation system.

Lawrence alleged that ascheme allowing the developer to take people's land before replacing it is against the World Bank's regulations.

The bank is heavily involved in the project since it provided its risk guarantee.

There remains a group of affected people in some 40 villages living downstream who are off the radar screen of the project and do not qualify for compensation, Lawrence said.

The immediate impact could be serious as the flow of water in the Nam Theun River will quickly drop when the dam shuts the flow.

The impact on aquatic species, animal and vegetation, which villagers depend on, will be substantial, he said, as there is no clear plan to help them.

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