April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Downstream nations along Asia’s Mekong River hailed China’s move to share data on reservoir levels and called for more cooperation as a severe drought heightens concerns that its dams have distorted water flows.
The dry weather has reduced Mekong water levels to their lowest in three decades, affecting more than 60 million people in the river’s lower basin, an area larger than the U.S. state of Texas. China agreed on March 25 to share water-level data at two dams to ease pressure from nations downstream, including Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
“I would like to thank the Chinese government for this valuable cooperation,” Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said today in an opening speech at the first-ever summit of Mekong nations in Hua Hin, Thailand. “I also hope that such genuine effort of cooperation would become more regular.”
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