PUB in practice: case studies - Runoff Prediction in Ungauged Basins: Synthesis across Processes, Places and Scales - page 349

11.19 DISTRIBUTED RUNOFF
PREDICTIONS IN THE MEKONG
RIVER BASIN
k.takeuchi,h.a.p.hapuarachchi,a.s.kiem,
h.ishidaira,t.q.ao,j.magome,m.c.zhou,m.
georgievski, g. wang and c. yoshimura

the lower Mekong basin (LMB) countries of Thailand,
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, with the remainder in China
and Myanmar. The population is growing rapidly in the
Mekong River basin (MRB), projected to be 90 million by
2025 compared with 72 million in 2005, and this increases
the competition for water while also contributing to
decreases in water quality, particularly in the LMB
(MRC, 2003 ). In addition to the increasing demand for
water, floods are also a recurring event in the LMB, often
resulting in loss of life and property, damage to agriculture
and rural infrastructure, and major disruption to the social
and economic activities of people living in the LMB

The issue from societal and hydrological perspectives
The Mekong River flows approximately 4200 km from the
Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea ( Figure 11.83 ) and
covers about 795 000 km 2 , of which 620 000 km 2 lies in

Figure 11.83. The Mekong River basin and sub-basins (block numbers indicated).