Population densities in S & SE Asia are among the highest in the world, especially in flood plains of major rivers, leading to major disruptions associated with reservoir construction.

Suspended particle loads of rivers in this region are extremely high, resulting in very short reservoir "lifetimes" relative to filling up significantly with sediments. Thus design and operation of reservoirs in this region probably should be altered substantially from practices in much of the rest of the world. Such changes would probably raise investment costs for such projects substantially.