Experts question praise of China’s ‘drought relief’
The Mekong River Commission, in a missive posted on their website on November 14, credited China’s “emergency water release” from its Mekong dams with successfully helping to alleviate the drought in the Mekong River Basin earlier this year, a claim disputed by experts. The statement was based on an MRC report published in late October and conducted in cooperation with China’s Ministry of Water Resources. “The study found that the supplemental water release was effective, increasing water level,” the statement claims. “It shows the positive impact of China’s cooperation on the drought management,” Pham Tuan Phan, the MRC’s CEO, is quoted as saying in the statement. However, the Cambodian Ministry of Water Resources at the time said the release of water was unlikely to have much of an impact, a view that experts on November 16 seconded. Ian Thomas, a former technical adviser at the MRC, said on November 16 that the report was “a stinking pile of codswallop”, adding that it failed to address the critically low water levels in the Tonle Sap.
