Simple Analysis on Future Water Resource in the Mekong Basin

摘要

Water resource in the lower Mekong river basin, which is an international river, is evaluated using GIS with hydrological data set. GIS prepared distribution data of elevation, land use and slope. The data contributed to analysis for the water balance in a model basin. A model basin consists of forest, urban and cultivated regions. Water balance equation including rainfall, evapotranspiration, infiltration, storage and runoff estimates available water for people. As the results, the number of drought months for one year will increase as cultivated area would increase. Especially, that is serious in dry season and the rice-planting season. It was also understood that population in the basin would be limited by the water resource problem. Japanese climate condition was also used for the comparison with the Mekong region. Both conditions and situations are similar. The methodology is simple but qualitative analysis is helpful for understanding for future situation.