China Focus: Despite own difficulties, China releases water for drought-hit Mekong countries

Photographer Xu Yunhua has found that the bushes on the bank of the Lancang River in Jinghong City have been inundated and a sidewalk on the river bank covered by ankle-deep water all of a sudden.

Furthermore, a makeshift studio, built on the bank of the river, by a crew which plans to shoot an environmental film "My Pet Is Elephant", was also flooded.

The Lancang River, which becomes the Mekong after it flows out of China, originates in China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and stretches 4,880 kilometers to the sea. It runs 2,161 km in China and flows to Laos,Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

On Tuesday, China announced it started releasing an emergency water supply from Jinghong Hydropower Station in southwest China's Yunnan Province at the request from Vietnam to help overcome drought on the Mekong Delta.

Since late 2015, countries along the Lancang-Mekong River have been suffering droughts of varying degrees due to the impact of the El Nino phenomenon, and the situation has worsened recently and threatens people's livelihood.

"In order to accommodate the concerns of countries at the lower reaches of the Mekong River, the Chinese government has decided to overcome its own difficulties to offer emergency water flows," said Lu Kang, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday.

"We will release emergency water supply from Jinghong Hydropower Station from March 15 till April 10," said Lu. "The water release is going to benefit Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam."

Tang Qingdi, deputy director of Jinghong Hydropower Station, said the station, joined by local authorities, had to make several last minute notices and consultations to ensure the safety of the water discharge.

"We have to inform people who used to take a walk on the river bank due to low water level and those for sightseeing," Tang said.

Power station authorities also consulted with the film group and the latter made a compromise, according to an official with publicity department of Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The film set was only five km from the power station.

Figures with the National Headquarters of Flood Control and Drought Relief indicated that the Lancang River saw a 20-percent reduction of water flow since the beginning of this year compared with the average volume of a normal year at the same period.

Since the start of this year, the reservoir of the station saw outflow exceed inflow, which contributed a water supply of 2.7 billion cubic meters to its downstream, despite local drought.

The reservoir recorded an average inflow of 500 cubic meters per second while it discharged water at 1,000 cubic meters. The emergency water supply schedule further increased the water discharge to 2,190 cubic meters per second.

It was a part of Jinghong Hydropower Station's role to adjust water supply by holding flood water in summer and replenishing water supply in winter, said Chen Mingda, chief of the marine board in Xishuangbanna Prefecture.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said water resources cooperation is an important component of the cooperation mechanism being worked on by China and other Mekong River countries.

"China is willing to enhance coordination and practical cooperation with related countries in accordance with the mechanism in water resources management and disaster response to benefit the people in the region," he added. Endi