China says Mekong dam did not discharge water downstream amid heavy flooding in Thailand
The Jinghong dam has previously been blamed for changes in water levels, but Bangkok embassy says no water was discharged last week
China said on Tuesday a major dam on the Mekong River did not discharge floodwaters last week amid heavy flooding in Thailand.
Monsoon rains across large areas in Thailand have caused extensive flooding that has killed at least nine people and affected more than 51,700 households, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. They have also caused landslides that have killed 13 people on the island of Phuket.
But the flooding along the banks of the Mekong has heightened concerns about hydropower dams along China’s stretch of the river, which is known as the Lancang.
Thailand’s Office of the National Water Resources has sent an emergency notice to the Mekong River Commission, a regional intergovernmental agency, urging Laos and China to work together to slow water discharges from dams, according to the Bangkok Post.
A particular focus of these complaints has been the Jinghong dam in Yunnan province, which began operating in 2008 and is the closest to the Thai border.
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