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Upper Paunglaung hydropower project opened in Sittang River valley

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

Myanmar’s 140-MW Upper Paunglaung hydropower project officially opened this week in a ceremony that included officials from the country’s Minsitry of Electric Power and President U Thein Sein.

Located in central Myanmar along the Paunglaung River, the $24 million plant will help meet the country’s demand for power, which is increasing about 15 percent per year. An estimated 50 percent of Myanmar has no access to the power grid.

The hydropower project includes a 1,700-foot long, 322-foothigh “roller-compacted” concrete dam that will impound a reservoir of more than a million acre-feet. It will generate 454 million KWH and the electricity generated will be transmitted through the national power grid.

South Korea and Laos agree to work on hydropower project

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn and his Lao counterpart, Thongsing Thammavong, agreed Monday to work closely on a hydro-power project in the Southeast Asian country, a South Korean official said.

The two sides had planned to sign a deal on the development of Sepon III hydro-power plant at their meeting, though they failed to ink the deal due to differences.

The two sides remain at odds over which country will build a road leading up to the power plant, among other things.

Stop Sesan Dam, Locals Tell Gov’t

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

More than 90 percent of people affected by the $800 million Lower Sesan II hydroelectricity project want the government to halt construction of the dam and the area turned into one of the world’s largest eco-tourism reserves, a survey released yesterday by the NGO Forum found.

One of the survey’s authors, Kem Ley, who is also a political analyst, said the compensation and resettlement process was inconsistent and lacked transparency and the whole project was undermined by the lack of community consultation from the beginning.

“About 93 percent of those affected demand the government cancel the construction project because they don’t want to lose their culture and their burial and spiritual lands,” he said.

The New Mekong: Changes And Expectations

By Paritta Wangkiat

The construction of mainstream dams on the Mekong River pose significant environmental and social impacts for riparian communities in Cambodia and Vietnam. Vietnam National Mekong Committee’s Mekong Delta Study – set to be released in December 2015 – preliminarily predicted that hydropower dams will eliminate approximately 50 percent of fish catches in the region, which poses food security, public health, and economic crises in both Cambodia and Vietnam.

Dams may worsen arsenic problem: study

By Paritta Wangkiat

A Stanford University study conducted in Cambodia has shed new light on the natural introduction of the poison arsenic into groundwater – an established problem in Cambodia that could be exacerbated by hydrological development, particularly dams, researchers say.

According to a report on their findings, published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Friday, the Stanford team carried out experiments on wetlands in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district in order to better understand how water is contaminated by the lethal toxin here and in other parts of South and Southeast Asia.

Mekong Dolphin Extinction, Hydropower and Climate Change

By Paritta Wangkiat

Scientists for the Mekong offer this article to inform the public, the delegates at COP21, and decision-makers worldwide about the impacts of hydropower development on the Lower Mekong River, and the serious repercussions for 60 million people in SE Asia. This article provides an overview of the many significant environmental and social impacts of hydropower dams on the Mekong River basin.

Mekong: a river rising

By Paritta Wangkiat

The fate of 70 million people rests on what happens to the Mekong river. With world leaders meeting in Paris next week for crucial UN climate talks, John Vidal journeys down south-east Asia’s vast waterway – a place that encapsulates some of the dilemmas they must solve. He meets people struggling to deal with the impacts of climate change as well as the ecological havoc created by giant dams, deforestation, coastal erosion and fast-growing cities