Sulfuric Acid Contamination in Laos Has Not Affected Mekong Water in Cambodia: Mekong Committee
The team took water samples at several locations along the canal, in the Nam Khan River and in the Mekong River to assess the spill’s impacts. Photo: MRC / Chandaly Mao
- By Meng Seavmey
- April 9, 2024 6:10 PM
PHNOM PENH – The Ministry of Water Resource and Meteorology and the Cambodian National Mekong Committee are assessing the potential effects on the Mekong River of a sulfuric acid spill that took place in one of its tributaries in Laos, some 900 kilometers upstream from Cambodia.
On April 3, a truck carrying 30 tons of sulfuric acid spilled around 50 percent of its cargo in an accident that happened close to a canal leading to the Nam Khan River, which is a tributary to the Mekong River. The incident happened in Ban Phou Xang Kham village, on the outskirts of the UNESCO-listed city of Luang Prabang.
The spillover took place around 300 meters away from the Nam Khan River and about six kilometers from the confluence with the Mekong River. The first Cambodian station on the river is 935 kilometers downstream, in Stung Treng province.
Location of sampling points on 7 April 2024. Photo: MRC
To prevent contaminated waters from reaching the Mekong River, Laotian’s local authorities installed barriers on April 4.
The Mekong River Commission Secretariat (MRC), the Lao National Mekong Committee, the Department of Water Resources, the National Resources and Environmental Research Institute (NRERI) conducted a site inspection on April 7.
The team took water samples at several locations along the canal, in the Nam Khan River and in the Mekong River to assess the spill’s impacts.
The samples showed that water quality in the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers was unaffected, according to an MRC statement released on April 8.
Regardless, the MRC is cooperating with relevant stakeholders to keep assessing the situation to ensure minimum environmental damage and the public welfare of those living along the river and depending on it.
The Ministry of Water Resource and Meteorology and the Cambodia National Mekong Committee (CNMC) are also working together to evaluate the effects of the accident on the river in Cambodia.
The Mekong River covers nearly 5,000km from the Tibetan Plateau in China to the Mekong Delta. The river is one of the world’s longest rivers and flows through six countries: China, Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam.
