The Mekong basin is known as the "Battery of Southeast Asia" for its great hydroelectric potential. With the planned construction of 124 dams, the basin could generate 4/5 of the annual Italian gross demand. Of these, 32 are already functioning and 24 under construction, while the implementation of the rest is planned for the next ten or fifteen years. The planning of where and when to build these infrastructures was done ignoring the potentially devastating impacts that the interruption of sediment transport will have in the coming years on the geomorphological and ecosystem evolution of the basin, putting at risk the very survival of the delta of the Mekong. A joint research between the Polytechnic of Milan, Stanford, Berkeley and the WWF proposes a new strategic road map for the construction of the Mekong dams that would allow to contain the reduction of sediments towards the delta by up to 80% compared to the current planned for the same energy production. The study, described in the article "Planning damaging for low sediment trapping shows limits for sustainable hydropower in the Mekong" by R.J.P .Schmitt, S. Bizzi, A. Castelletti (DEIB), J.J. Opperman and G.M. Kondolf, integrates advanced modeling methods geomorphological and optimization and provides an alternative decision-making platform to the current infrastructure financing model in which the so-called environmental externalities become an integral part in the evaluation of the investment opportunity.

For more information: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/10/eaaw2175