State of water : Myanmar
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State of water environmental issues
Myanmar

General Description of the Country

The Union of Myanmar is situated in South East Asia and the length of 2200 km is extending from the North to the South and 950 km from the East to the West. Myanmar has common borders with five neighboring countries and has a very long coastal line of about 2234 km along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman sea.

Myanmar is one of the ASEAN member countries and endowed with rich natural resources cultivable land, available water resources and favorable climate. Myanmar is a forest - clad mountainous country, with plateaus, valleys and plains.

The total land area of Myanmar is about 261200 sq mile (67.65 million hectares ) and current land use in 2003-2004 status stood as follows:-

Sr Type of land Land use
(million hectares)
% Remarks
1 Net sown area of crop land 10.12 17.25
(Total cultivable land)
14.96 25.5% of cultivable land
2 Current fallow 0.56 0.83
3 Cultivable waste 6.57 9.71
4 Reserved forests 14.99 22.15  
5 Other forests 18.49 27.34  
6 Unclassified land not suitablefor crop land 16.92 25.01  
Total 67.65 100.00  

The population of Myanmar according to statistical data of 2003-2004 is 52 million and the annual growth rate is about 2 percent.

Water resources and status of utilization

Myanmar is a country endowed with abundant water resources. The catchment area of Myanmar's ten principal river basins comprises about 737800 km². Potential water resources volume is about 1082 km³ for surface water and 495 cubic km for groundwater.as well constitute national water resources annually.

As an agro-base country of Myanmar, water utilization for agricultural sector stands for 90% while industry and domestic use is only about 10% of the total water use. The total utilization of the nation's water resources is only about 5 percent of the potential. It is clear that the physical potential for further development of water resources in Myanmar is quite substantial.

However with the increase of population and enhanced need for water for economic activities, there is increasing pressure on use of surface water and extraction of groundwater. Control and management of surface water and groundwater is therefore important for sustainable development of the country in future.

Map of Myanmar River Basin

Potential Water Resources in Myanmar
Sr River basin Catchment Area (km²) Inflow (km³)
1 Chiundwin 115300 141.29
2 Ayeyarwady (Upper) 193300 227.92
3 Ayeyarwady(lower) 95600 85.80
4 Sittoung 34400 41.95
5 Rivers in Rakhaing State 58300 139.25
6 River in Thanintharyi Division 40600 130.93
7 Thanlwin ( in Myanmar) 158000 257.92
8 Mekong (in Myanmar) 28600 17.63
9 Bilin River and other rivulets 8400 31.17
10 Bago River 5300 8.02
Total 737800 1081.88

Potential Groundwater in Myanmar
Sr River basin Catchment Area (km²) Inflow(km³)
1 Chiundwin 115300 57.58
2 Ayeyarwady (Upper) 193300 92.60
3 Ayeyarwady(lower) 95600 153.25
4 Sittoung 48100 28.40
5 Rivers in Rakhaing State 58300 41.77
6 River in Thanintharyi Division 40600 39.28
7 Thanlwin ( in Myanmar) 158000 74.78
8 Mekong (in Myanmar) 28600 7.05
Total 737800 494.71


The present status of water environment

The percentage of people cover by safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are still very low in the country compared to the global status. In Myanmar rural water supply activities were started in 1952 to provide safe drinking water and implement environmental sanitation works for the rural populace. At present, with the assistance of international organizations, several water supply and sanitation projects are being implemented. Up to the end of August 1995 Government implemented, various rural water supply activities covering for 12.5 million of the population.

Most of the irrigation reservoirs were sited on the tributaries and streamlets of main water resources. Consequently while not impeding or hindering the flow of main water resources, the impact of the dams on environment have also been negligible. Similarly no major reservoirs that could impede flow have been constructed in the catchment of the Ayeyarwady river, which is Myanmar's main water channel.

Consumption of storage water from reservoir is not only for the irrigation but also for drinking purpose. Analysis of water quality from most of reservoirs is carried out, and most of the results show water quality of storage reservoir is suitable for agriculture purpose. The results of the some of the reservoirs are followings.

Analytical Data for Water

(1) Sedawgyi Dam
Date Sampled = 5.6.2003
Sr Ions Symbol Units Results
1 Calcium Ca++ me/L 0.64
2 Magnesium Mg++ " 0.72
3 Sodium Na+ " 0.37
4 Potassium K+ "
5 Carbonate CO3= " N.D
6 Bicarbonate HCO3 " 0.08
7 Sulphate SO4= " 2.16
8 Chloride CL " 0.38
9 Iron Fe++ mg/L N.D
10 Total Dissolved solids TDS ppm 110.72
11 Soluble sodium percentage SSP % 21.39
12 Sodium adsorption ratio SAR 0.45
13 Residual sodium carbonate RSC me/L -1.28
14 pH pH 6.46
15 Electrical conductivity E.C µmhos/cm 173
16 Classification C1S1
N.D = Not detected

(2) Ngamoeyeik Dam
Date Sampled = 17.5.2003
Sr Ions Symbol Units Results
1 Calcium Ca++ me/L 0.32
2 Magnesium Mg++ " 0.68
3 Sodium Na+ " 0.01
4 Potassium K+ "
5 Carbonate CO3= " N.D
6 Bicarbonate HCO3 " 0.10
7 Sulphate SO4= " 1.56
8 Chloride CL " 0.14
9 Iron Fe++ mg/L N.D
10 Total Dissolved solids TDS ppm 64.64
11 Soluble sodium percentage SSP % 0.99
12 Sodium adsorption ratio SAR 0.01
13 Residual sodium carbonate RSC me/L -0.90
14 pH pH 7.20
15 Electrical conductivity E.C µmhos/cm 101
16 Classification C1S1
N.D = Not detected

(3) Sun Chaung Dam
Date Sampled = 15.4.2003
Sr Ions Symbol Units Results
1 Calcium Ca++ me/L 1.20
2 Magnesium Mg++ " 2.24
3 Sodium Na+ " 1.36
4 Potassium K+ " -
5 Carbonate CO3= " 0.08
6 Bicarbonate HCO3 " 0.16
7 Sulphate SO4= " 1.76
8 Chloride CL " 0.28
9 Iron Fe++ mg/L N.D
10 Total Dissolved solids TDS ppm 307.20
11 Soluble sodium percentage SSP % 28.33
12 Sodium adsorption ratio SAR 1.04
13 Residual sodium carbonate RSC me/L -3.20
14 pH pH 6.70
15 Electrical conductivity E.C µmhos/cm 480
16 Classification C2S1
N.D = Not detected

(4) Ketlan Dam (Natogyi Township)
Sr Ions Units Results
15.6.01 15.9.01 20.3.02 24.10.02 12.9.03 30.10.03
1 Calcium me/L 1.53 1.40 1.85 8.34 0.02 1.87
2 Magnesium " 6.15 11.78 8.06 9.76 7.79 4.09
3 Sodium " 26.90 25.0 26.26 70.93 29.89 7.88
4 Potassium " 0.12 0.34 0.09 0.09 0.24 0.12
5 Carbonate " 2.01 2.39 0.32 6.32 1.39 Nil
6 Bicarbonate " 6.03 4.94 6.92 0.20 6.32 4.06
7 Sulphate " 18.56 20.87 70.85 19.01 24.31 6.76
8 Chloride " 8.69 8.16 9.18 6.63 7.66 3.19
9 Iron mg/L
10 Total Dissolved solids ppm 3192 3291 4316 2791.68 3847.68 1629
11 Soluble sodium percentage % 77.52 64.90 72.50 49.64 78.78 56.45
12 Sodium adsorption ratio 27.45 90.48 32.35 11.92 30.50 11.54
13 Residual sodium carbonate me/L 0.36 0 -2.67 -11.58 -0.1 -1.90
14 pH 8.98 8.98 8.63 7.62 8.77 8.67
15 Electrical conductivity µmhos/cm 4988 5143 6744 4362 6012 2545
16 Classification C4S4 C4S4 C4S4 C4S3 C4S4 C4S4

(5) Kyauktalone  Dam (Taungtha Township) 
Sr Ions Symbol Units Results
20.3.03 23.7.03 17.11.03
1 Calcium Ca++ me/L 1.01 1.12 0.80
2 Magnesium Mg++ " 1.01 1.88 0.56
3 Sodium Na+ " 7.49 3.65 7.04
4 Potassium K+ " - - -
5 Carbonate CO3= " 0.90 0.08 0.80
6 Bicarbonate HCO3 " 4.30 0.12 3.20
7 Sulphate SO4= " 7.95 2.20 7.92
8 Chloride CL " 3.12 0.88 2.27
9 Iron Fe++ mg/L N.D N.D N.D
10 Total Dissolved solids TDS ppm 579.20 408 537.60
11 Soluble sodium percentage SSP % 82.76 54.89 83.81
12 Sodium adsorption ratio SAR 7.45 2.98 8.59
13 Residual sodium carbonate RSC me/L 3.18 -2.80 2.64
14 pH pH 8.2 6.8 7.7
15 Electrical conductivity E.C µmhos/cm 905 665 840
16 Classification C3S2 C2S1 C3S2
N.D = Not detected

Formation of saline soil in the irrigated tract due to drainage and water logging problems are found in some localized area in central Myanmar.

There is also sedimentation problem in some major river systems in Myanmar. As a result of depletion of  forest in the watershed areas and as a counter measure, Irrigation Department has being participated actively and cooperated with Forest Department for reforestation activities in some watershed area.

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