Mekong River's new aquamarine color may be sign of trouble

[Judi Lynn]

Busaba Sivasomboon, Associated Press Updated 7:04 pm CST, Thursday, December 5, 2019



Photo: Chessadaporn Buasai, AP
IMAGE 1 OF 3
In this Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, photo, sightseers plays on a sandbar in the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom province, northeastern Thailand. Experts say the aquamarine color the Mekong River has recently acquired may beguile tourists but it also indicates a problem caused by upstream dams. The water usually is a yellowish-brown shade due to the sediment it normally carries downstream. But lately it has been running clear, taking on a blue-green hue that is a reflection of the sky. The water levels have also become unusually low, exposing sandbanks in the middle of the river.


BANGKOK (AP) — The Mekong River has recently acquired an aquamarine color that may beguile tourists but also indicates a problem caused by upstream dams, experts in Thailand say.

The river usually has a yellowish-brown shade due to the sediment it normally carries downstream. But lately it has been running clear, taking on a blue-green hue that is a reflection of the sky. The water levels have also become unusually low, exposing sandbanks that allow the curious to stand in the middle of the river.

Low water levels pose an obvious problem for fishermen and farmers, but experts say the decline in sediment exposes a different danger that can result in greater erosion of the river’s banks and bed.

The experts and people living along the river blame a large hydroelectric dam upstream in Laos that began operating in October for contributing to both problems, though rainfall has also been sparse.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/science/article/Experts-say-Mekong-River-s-new-color-a-worrying-14883554.php

[rsdsharp]

1. So much for the Brown Water Navy

John Kerry served in.