MK3: Optimising Cascades aimed at identifying the potential for multiple use of water in cascades of hydropower reservoirs, and at making suggestions for coordinated and equitable management of these uses. The principal hypothesis behind this research is that multiple use of the land and water resources surrounding a cascade of dams and reservoirs can be integrated and made compatible with hydropower production.

The following reports and materials were produced as part of the project:

• Basin Profiles:

• Upper Sesan River
• Lower Sesan River
• Nam Theun Nam Kading

• Agriculture and Irrigation:

• Landuse suitability for agriculture in the Sesan catchment: potential for irrigation development
• Annexes A and B: Methodology and data source for agro-ecological zoning
• Annex C: Crop Water requirement and irrigation schedule
• Trade-offs between hydropower and irrigation development and their cumulative hydrological impacts: a case study from the Sesan River
• Annex: Methodology for trade-off paper

• Fisheries and Environment:

• Fish and fisheries in the Sekong, Sesan and Srepok River Basins (3S Rivers, Mekong Watershed) with special reference to the Sesan River
• Fish passage opportunities for the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Cambodia – Lessons from South America
• Exploring environment flow regimes in the Lower Sesan in Cambodia
• Creating wetlands within reservoirs: Part 1 – Developing the concept
• Creating wetlands within reservoirs: Part 2 – Feasibility study in the Nam Gnouang reservoir

• Hydrology and Flood Control:

• Catchment hydrology and its modelling in Nam Theun-Nam Kading (Lao PDR) and Sesan (Cambodia and Vietnam) River catchments
• Annex 1: Nam Theun-Nam Kading – VMod hydrological modelling
• Annex 2: Sekong-Sesan-Srepok – VMod hydrological modelling
• Flood control challenges for large hydroelectric reservoirs, with examples from Nam Theun-Nam Kading Basin, Lao PDR
• Assessing the impacts of land use change on sediment inflows to Yali Reservoir
• Assessing the impact of sedimentation on reservoir life: Example from the Yali Reservoir in Viet Nam

• Institutional Challenges and Conclusions:

• Institutional challenges for management of multiple use of water in cascades
• Conclusions and recommendations

For more information, visit the MK3: Optimizing the management of a cascade or reservoirs at the catchment level page

View interactive maps of the Sesan and Nam Theun – Nam Kading basins

View photos from this project on Flickr: