The Laotian Times –
With hydrological projects now a daily reality along Southeast Asia’s most important waterway, the Mekong River Commission and its partners have introduced new technology to measure if one large project will have significant impact on the river’s water quality, flow or fish population.
At the Don Sahong Dam, less than two kilometers upstream of the Laotian-Cambodian border, the MRC showcased two new sets of equipment at a June 7th unveiling: The first will monitor water level and quality immediately below the dam – and report if anything adversely affects that quality – in near real-time. This is vital for the millions of fishing and farming families who rely on the Mekong, even for drinking water.
Related to that, the second technology is an “acoustic telemetry” system that is being attached to some migratory, transboundary fish species. Because such dams may disrupt the tranquil fish environment, developers are routinely expected to install an elaborate “fish passage” for the fish to be hoisted upriver and downstream, where they typically spawn and feed, respectively. However, to date there’s been no way to prove if the Don Sahong fish passage works as intended. This new tagging system will provide that evidence, as it tracks fish movements up and downstream of a few natural-like fish passages (also known as fishways), including the Hou Sadam and Hou Xangpheuk channels, which the developer modified.