Interesting Facts About Mekong River

Mekong River is one of the longest rivers in Asia. The Mekong rises from its source, the Rup-sa Pass on the Tibetan Plateau, and flows generally southeast for 2,600 miles (4,180 km), emptying into the South China Sea through a large delta. The river has a relatively small drainage area of 300,000 square miles (777,000 sq km), more than 75% of which lies in Southeast Asia. In 1995 French explorer Michel Peissel discovered the source of the Mekong River at a high mountain pass.
 
The Mekong's first 1,150 miles (1,850 km) are in China, where the river flows in a narrow valley with deep gorges, in part parallel and close to the upper Yangtze and Salween. After forming the Laos-Myanmar (Burma) border and descending from the mountains of northern Laos near Vientiane, the river crosses the eastern Korat plateau between Laos and Thailand. Below Khone Falls, where the Mekong enters Cambodia, alluvial plains extend on both sides. During the summer flood, some of the waters flow up the Tonle River into Tonle Sap, a natural reservoir. In Vietnam the many channels of the Mekong are still depositing sediment and building up the delta.

The Mekong is navigable up to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The alluvial plains and delta are fertile rice-growing areas, but the fields need irrigation in the dry season. Tonle Sap is a rich fishery. In 1957 Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam began a cooperative effort to develop the water resources of the lower Mekong and its tributaries. Because of the Vietnam War and political upheavals in Cambodia, only slow progress was made in improving flood control, irrigation, hydropower generation, and navigation. In the early 1990s high-level talks were held among Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam to discuss the sharing of hydroelectric power potential of the Mekong River. By the end of 1996 almost 60 dams for harnessing water from the Mekong River were scheduled to be built. 

Two dams, in China and Thailand, were operational by 1997. Thailand is the biggest producer and consumer of the hydropower generated by the dams built on the Mekong River under the Mekong River project. In 1995 the Agreement on Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin was signed by Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, with China and Myanmar (Burma) as observers. The 42–clause accord outlines mechanisms for settling disputes regarding the development and sharing of resources of this strategically located river.

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