Russian Key to the Mekong River
... called Cambodia’s “rice cup” for millennia. Megawatts and a “Hungry River” International Rivers In recent decades, the situation has sharply deteriorated, though. Along the upper course of the Mekong, dozens of mega-dams have been built, with China alone detaining about 10% of the annual flow (47 billion cubic meters of water; remember this figure!). Along the middle course, Laos, the “battery of Asia”, has built 46 hydropower plants that generate 6,400 MW of electricity. Today, the Mekong River does not receive enough water even during the rainy season, and so it dries up, periodically acquiring a blue color. This attracts tourists, yet terrifies the locals. After all, the usual caramel color of the river means an abundance of dissolved ...
