The impact of hydro-powers system development in the Mekong basin on the Hau River morphology process

Currently, the planning and development of reservoirs system in the upper Mekong has been causing serious impacts on the sediment reserves of the river basins in the lower Mekong River. This leads to the 'sand hungry' of the rivers and the erosion became extremely complicated and serious. This paper presents the main results in studying the impact of planning and developing the reservoirs system in the Mekong basin on the morphological changes. The selected study area is the section of the Hau River, downstream of Mekong River that flows through Long Xuyen city, An Giang province, Vietnam. In this study, a MIKE 21C model is conducted to simulate hydrodynamic and morphodynamical processes of the river section. The primary findings show that as considering the reservoir development scenarios in the lower Mekong basin, the studied river section has several significant changes in morphology compared to the baseline scenario. Copyright � 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.