US sponsors project to track water levels in Chinese dams at Mekong river as tensions soar

A move that is further expected to deteriorate US-China relations, a Washington-sponsored programme using satellites to track and publish water levels at Chinese dams on the Mekong river was announced on December 14. Fueling the rivalry between two superpowers, the United States announced Mekong Dam Monitor, which is an open-source online platform that vows to reveal weekly updates using remote sensing and satellite imagery on the levels of the reservoirs at 13 dams along the main stretch of the river along with oath 15 other tributary dams that have the capacity to generate power greater than 200 megawatts. 

The US-backed project further seeks to circulate weekly visualisations as well analysis of “China’s 11 dam cascade on the upper Mekong” along with maps, data on temperature, ice shield, precipitation and other indicators along the river. The waterway which is 4,350-km-long has now reportedly become a source of competition. It is known as the Lancang in China before flowing south through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

As per the official website of the Mekong Dam Monitor, “The platform is freely available for public use on the Mekong Water Data Initiative website and all research inputs are public-access resources. This project is a collaborative partnership formed by the Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia Program and Eyes on Earth, Inc with funding support from the Mekong-US Partnership.”

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Project to be launched at a virtual event

The project is set to launch on December 15 at a virtual event that would be attended by the US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell, who will also deliver a keynote address. The launch of ‘Mekong Dam Monitor’ came just weeks after the rolling out of a similar Chinese initiative to tackle climate change as well as the natural disasters that according to media reports reflect ‘China’s goodwill and sincerity’. Meanwhile, US-sponsored the project despite China dismissing Washington’s research saying the Beijing’s dams have retained water to the detriment of downstream nations where reportedly at least 60 million people rely on the river for fishing and farming. 

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