Your search found 4 records
1 1996. Country paper on integrated river basin management in Lao PDR. In Regional Seminar on Integrated River Basin Management, 2-5 September, 1996, Malacca, Malaysia: Proceedings vol.2 - Special lectures and country experiences/case studies. Malacca, Malaysia: Malaysian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage. 15p.
River basin development ; Water resource management ; Development plans ; Settlement ; Reservoirs / Laos / Nam Ngum River Basin
(Location: IWMI-HQ Call no: 333.91 G000 REG Record No: H019254)
2 Lacombe, Guillaume; Douangsavanh, Somphasith; Thepphavong, B.; Hoanh, Chu Thai; Bounvilay, B.; Noble, Andrew; Ongkeo, O.; Johnston, Robyn; Phongpachith, C. 2011. Is there enough water in the Vientiane Plain? a water balance assessment of the Lower Nam Ngum Basin. Project report prepared by IWMI for CSIRO - AusAID Research for Development Alliance under the project "Exploring Mekong Region Futures". Vientiane, Laos: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 25p.
Water balance ; Assessment ; Water demand ; Water supply ; River basins ; Water power ; Dams ; Irrigated land ; Pumping ; Time series analysis / Laos / Vientiane Plain / Nam Ngum River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044647)
(1.14 MB)
In Lao PDR, one of the less developed countries, water represents a valuable natural resource via the development of hydropower dams and irrigation schemes. In the lower part of the Nam Ngum River Basin, the Vientiane plain is one of the largest food production areas of the country and the largest irrigated area in Lao PDR. While food demand is expected to continue to increase in the future, hydropower dams are under rapid development in the upper part of the basin, modifying the seasonal distribution of the river flow regimes. This study aims at assessing the current water supply and agricultural water demand in the Vientiane Plain and concluding whether the water resource is or may become a limiting factor for food production. The agricultural water demand is assessed from two types of data (characteristics of large-scale pumping stations and official statistics on irrigated areas) and using remote sensing analyses. Flow measurements of the Nam Ngum River were used to quantify the water supply. A 43-year time series (1962-2004) of daily river discharge was reconstructed from actual discontinuous data recorded in the river reach where most of the pumping stations are found. Distinctions in the water resource assessment were made between pristine conditions (before the construction of the hydropower dams) and current conditions of water infrastructure development. A comparison of the water supply and demand indicates that during the 4 driest months of the year (January to April) when the river reaches its minimum level and the irrigation water demand is the highest, pumped volumes represent less than 30% of the river discharge. This ratio should decrease as new hydropower dams are built, storing and releasing more water during the wet and the dry season, respectively. These figures indicate that the availability of water in the Nam Ngum River is not a limiting factor for irrigation, even during the dry seasons of exceptionally dry years. The water demand could exceptionally exceed the water supply in the case of an extreme scenario of irrigation development with irrigated areas 3-fold larger than the current ones. Next analyses will consist in assessing how this water balance will be altered by the development of new hydropower dams and irrigation projects. Possible uses of water surplus will be prioritized, depending on their economic viability and benefits.
3 Baker, J.; Bartlett, R.; Jeuland, M.; Lacombe, Guillaume; Douangsavanh, Somphasith. 2013. Analyzing economic tradeoffs of water use in the Nam Ngum River Basin, Lao PDR. [Abstract only]. In German Aerospace Center (DLR); Germany. Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Mekong Environmental Symposium, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 5-7 March 2013. Abstract volume, Topic 02 - Hydropower development and impacts on economy. Wessling, Germany: German Aerospace Center (DLR); Bonn, Germany: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). pp.39.
Water resources ; River basins ; Water demand ; Water use ; Water power ; Irrigated farming ; Economic aspects / Laos / Nam Ngum River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045822)
http://www.mekong-environmental-symposium-2013.org/frontend/file.php?id=3020&dl=1
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H045822.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H045822.pdf
(0.08 MB) (2.09MB)
4 Jeuland, M.; Baker, J.; Bartlett, R.; Lacombe, Guillaume. 2014. The costs of uncoordinated infrastructure management in multi-reservoir river basins. Environmental Research Letters, 9(10):1-10. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/10/105006]
River basin management ; Reservoirs ; Costs ; Water resources ; Water power ; Hydrology ; Economic aspects ; Models ; Infrastructure ; Flood control ; Irrigation ; Dams / Lao People s Democratic Republic / Mekong / Nam Ngum River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046648)
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/9/10/105006/pdf/1748-9326_9_10_105006.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046648.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046648.pdf
(1.21 MB) (1.22 MB)
Though there are surprisingly few estimates of the economic benefits of coordinated infrastructure development and operations in international river basins, there is a widespread belief that improved cooperation is beneficial for managing water scarcity and variability. Hydro-economic optimization models are commonly-used for identifying efficient allocation of water across time and space, but such models typically assume full coordination. In the real world, investment and operational decisions for specific projects are often made without full consideration of potential downstream impacts. This paper describes a tractable methodology for evaluating the economic benefits of infrastructure coordination. We demonstrate its application over a range of water availability scenarios in a catchment of the Mekong located in Lao PDR, the Nam Ngum River Basin. Results from this basin suggest that coordination improves system net benefits from irrigation and hydropower by approximately 3–12% (or US$12-53 million/yr) assuming moderate levels of flood control, and that the magnitude of coordination benefits generally increases with the level of water availability and with inflow variability. Similar analyses would be useful for developing a systematic understanding of the factors that increase the costs of non-cooperation in river basin systems worldwide, and would likely help to improve targeting of efforts to stimulate complicated negotiations over water resources.
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