Laos: Mekong River Commission unveils technology to monitor river's water quality and fish migration

A fish expert demonstrates how to tag a fish with a monitoring equipment to monitor its movements. - Laotian Times

VIENTIANE, June 12: With hydrological projects now a daily reality along South-East Asia’s most important waterway, the Mekong River Commission and its partners have introduced new technology to measure if one large project will have significant impact on the river’s water quality, flow or fish population, reports Laotian Times.

At the Don Sahong Dam, less than two kilometers upstream of the Laotian-Cambodian border, the MRC showcased two new sets of equipment at a June 7th unveiling: The first will monitor water level and quality immediately below the dam – and report if anything adversely affects that quality – in near real-time. This is vital for the millions of fishing and farming families who rely on the Mekong, even for drinking water.