Thais Ask China For Help On Mekong Flow - 8 Dams Already In Place Or Planned On Upper River

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Thailand will ask China for help in dealing with the record-low water levels in the Mekong River, on which more than 60 million people depend, the prime minister said Sunday. The flows are the lowest for 20 years, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), which has said water supply, navigation and irrigation are at threat.

"We can see the level of the water is getting lower," premier Abhisit Vejjajiva said on the issue, which is affecting northern Laos as well as northern Thailand and southern China. "We will ask the foreign ministry to talk with a representative from China in terms of co-operation and in terms of management systems in the region," he said on his weekly television programme.

The government has been urged by local activists to hold talks with Beijing on the Mekong following alarming drops in the river's flow, local media reported last month. The Bangkok Post said the Save the Mekong Coalition - an alliance of environmental groups and Mekong riverside communities - believes the unusually low water levels are caused by Chinese dams.

But Jeremy Bird, chief executive officer of the MRC's secretariat, pointed to extremely low rainfalls in Laos and China. However, he told AFP last week it was "difficult for us to say categorically that there's no link" between the low water levels and the eight existing or planned dams on the mainstream Mekong in China.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Thailand_wants_Chinas_help_with_Mekong_drought_PM_999.html