Muddy Waters Have Authorities Singing the Blues
Authorities in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces on Thursday said that they were investigating an unusual change of color in the Mekong River to a muddy, dark brown that was unnatural for this time of the year and was worrying residents. Since the beginning of this year, Kratie’s department of water resources and meteorology said mud and possibly other dirt has been polluting the Mekong River and has caused the its color to change from relatively clear to dark brown. “It has never been this muddy before,” said the department’s director, Heng Rothmonida, adding that his department had taken samples to help determine whether it was simply mud causing the change or possibly pollution from upstream development projects. … Both provincial departments are investigating the nature of the sediment, and whether it could be a form of pollution. The immediate concern, Mr. Chandara and Mr. Rothmonida said, is the future of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. According to the WWF, fewer than 100 of the highly sensitive freshwater dolphins live in a total of nine pools in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces. … Ame Trandem, Southeast Asia program director for advocacy group International Rivers, said that sediment from last month’s Mekong flooding in Thailand, Vietnam and China could have reached northern Cambodia by now. Within less than a week, the water level of the Mekong rose by more than one meter in mid-December, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC). …
Ben Sokhean and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/muddy-waters-have-authorities-singing-the-blues-50792/
