A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005

The Mekong River carries an enormous volume of water, water resources in the wet season are more than adequate to fulfill basin needs, but there are regional water shortages during the dry season. The 1995 Agreement of MRC recognized the potential for conflict arising from water scarcity on the mainstream river in the dry season due to the rapid agricultural and economic development in the basin, it can have negative effects for sharing water among the riparian countries. The purpose of this study is first to assess and analyze water availability and water demand in the Lower Mekong River Basin at present and in future. In this study, a Model for Water Allocation is developed and that allows for the analysis of water allocation and use under different criteria. This model can help the decision maker to find the best solution for harmonizing water allocating among the riparian countries. This assists to identify efficient, equitable and sustainable water allocation mechanisms for agriculture, urban and industrial use, acceptable to all basin stakeholders. The model, a deterministic, GIS user-friendly interactive model is developed using Visual Basic in the Windows operating system. The model considers five criteria for allocating water among six sub-basins in LMB. With the scenario analysis approach, the model is applied to find out and suggest strategies for the efficient allocation of water resources in LMB