Heavy rains do little to boost island’s water reserves: ‘We need more’ says Phuket water chief

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

 

Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) Chief Graisorn Mahamad led an inspection of Bang Neow Dum reservoir on Tuesday (May 12). Photo: PWA

 

PHUKET: The heavy rains that lashed the island earlier this week have done little to help replenish the island’s main reservoirs,  Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) Chief Graisorn Mahamad had told The Phuket News.

 

“If the heavy rains continued for three to five more days, we would have enough to start drawing more water from the reservoirs,” he said.

 

However, despite the recent heavy rains, Bang Wad reservoir, the island’s main reservoir, yesterday (May 13) contained less water than it did a week ago.

 

Full story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/heavy-rains-do-little-to-boost-island-water-reserves-we-need-more-says-phuket-water-chief-76053.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2020-05-14

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Good there's no tourists then.

Rain has to come. Yes. But what is done to save water? By my knowledge Thai people used to wash up with running water. Clean motorbike with running hose. Watering the garden. Shower more than once a day. Water is cheap. For most people the bill is not the problem. So fill up a bucket to clean your bike. Fill up the sink to wash up. Etc. Etc. Educate people to save water. And please build water treatment plants for waste water and to make clean drinking water. Get rid of all these plastic bottles. Nestle, Singha, Chang, etc should be ashamed of themselves that they continue this practice of environmental pollution.

Send for some Red Indians to do a rain dance.....Oh !

the wont be allowed in,back to the drawing board.

 

The long term answer would be desalination plants,

if they want Phuket to be a first class tourist destination

well into the future,if guests cannot take a shower ,they

won't be back.

regards worgeordie

 

49 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Send for some Red Indians to do a rain dance.....Oh !

the wont be allowed in,back to the drawing board.

 

The long term answer would be desalination plants,

if they want Phuket to be a first class tourist destination

well into the future,if guests cannot take a shower ,they

won't be back.

regards worgeordie

 

Great idea, and I am sure there will be a lot of slush money lying around in odd corners to keep the brown envelope factories working overtime.

Did any areas actually run out of water for a prolonged period of time this long dry season?  I don't recall seeing near as many water shut off articles as the previous few years.

 

 

16 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

Did any areas actually run out of water for a prolonged period of time this long dry season?  I don't recall seeing near as many water shut off articles as the previous few years.

 

 

Maikhao since 3 month.

Never happened this way before.

54 minutes ago, schlog said:

Maikhao since 3 month.

Never happened this way before.

Ouch!  

 

Did everyone just buy water from the trucks then, or did the gov't step up and do something?  How'd the wells do up there?

A reasonable sized pipe line from Cheow Lan lake to the reservoirs in Phuket will be a long term solution which will cover the missing water in Phuket.

 

Desalination plants for this size would be a big job to maintain.

 

I do not know if links from The Phuket News are allowed, but here is one about the problem:

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/running-on-empty-officials-float-ideas-to-counter-low-water-supply-reserves-70162.php

1 hour ago, steelepulse said:

Ouch!  

 

Did everyone just buy water from the trucks then, or did the gov't step up and do something?  How'd the wells do up there?

Dry...our, neighbors and mubaan wells are dry and no gov tap water.

2 times per day they pump a water truck tank full of water into the gov water pipe. That's all what you get for some minutes but it's better then in february were we had absolutely no water for 2 weeks.

There sure is a lot of activity out there in the Andaman Sea. Phuket should get rain soon.

 

Joint Typhoon Warning Center

 

Thai meterological Department's satellite pic of the Thailand area

 

Phuket Radar Loop

Desalination plants have been de-bunked on numerous occasions in the past. The one that exists is in a ridiculous location and has never really been effective. They are extremely expensive and not cost-effective here.

 

The pipeline down from Phang Na was mooted last year but has obviously gone on hold due to the current pandemic. Ironically this has cut the demand for water and given us a bit of a stay of execution.

Desalination plants only make sense in places that don't get enough rain, like Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Phuket gets around two metres per year. Collection and storage is the answer. Local legislation for all new-builds should include large underground tanks and guttering. Of course, this will never be done as the water-truck owners who are mainly local Phuket people have the power not only of the brown envelope, but, votes, too.

 

Have heard that in Rawai and Kata - Karon, many wells have dried up. Fortunately, I'm in a great location for water. In Chalong, not far from the base of a hill.

My well has only dried out once in the twenty years I've lived at this location (2004? 2005?), so, got a narrow, six inch bore drilled down to over 60 metres. Have never had to use it.

Ask the Chines to send some, they treat it like Hong Kong

1 hour ago, KarenBravo said:

Desalination plants only make sense in places that don't get enough rain, like Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Phuket gets around two metres per year. Collection and storage is the answer. Local legislation for all new-builds should include large underground tanks and guttering. Of course, this will never be done as the water-truck owners who are mainly local Phuket people have the power not only of the brown envelope, but, votes, too.

 

Have heard that in Rawai and Kata - Karon, many wells have dried up. Fortunately, I'm in a great location for water. In Chalong, not far from the base of a hill.

My well has only dried out once in the twenty years I've lived at this location (2004? 2005?), so, got a narrow, six inch bore drilled down to over 60 metres. Have never had to use it.

A lot of wells around my part of Chalong dried up this year, including ours, even though we're only about 100 mtrs from the hills.  The water trucks were buzzing around like flies for several weeks. They probably make their yearly salary in that short period. A lot get free or very cheap water from local community bores to sell on to customers. The recent rains have now shown up in the wells and the trucks have all but disappeared.

You're right about the need to improve collection and storage. Last week I noticed a couple of excavators digging out one of the big ponds on the road down to Immigration. They had dug a very deep hole in one part. I went past again the next day after overnight rains and the hole was full of water. It looked like they had to stop digging.

They should have been doing similar weeks ago in the main catchments.

 

2 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

(Hab snip:)

Collection and storage is the answer. Local legislation for all new-builds should include large underground tanks and guttering.

Good proposal but such attenuation (storage) would still require treatment for human consumption. Capital costs of such construction would/may be prohibitive for potential developers wanting the cheapest end product for the biggest profit. For the whole island to benefit from a constant supply of potable water would require a dedicated site for the attenuation plant (typically a UV contact process) and subsequent distribution. Costs should come from central government coffers for essential infrastructure works as in, roads, electricity supply, etc.

 

Greed, galactic ignorance and self-serving corruption should be brushed aside to facilitate these works and….sorry, got carried away again there…

We don't need potable water. Just water clean enough for washing and showering. The island has never had potable water from the tap (all except Patong......the sign said so, a few years back).

1 hour ago, KarenBravo said:

We don't need potable water. Just water clean enough for washing and showering. The island has never had potable water from the tap (all except Patong......the sign said so, a few years back).

"We don't need potable water."

 

Sir, whilst that may have been a valid statement 100 years ago, the wedged-up tourists/investors Thailand wants to attract would reasonably assume access to potable water. I’m a fair-minded person and accept you have a different view on these matters. I have contacted Indiana Jones and he says that in all of his quests, he has never seen that fabled sign regarding the water. Some of the brown stained liquor I have encountered in some of the hotels I have stayed in Patong may have suggested that this water was not of the potable variety. I spoke to the hotel owners about this and they responded “a possible misunderstanding on my part” and that, sir, was good enough for me.

1 hour ago, billythehat said:

"We don't need potable water."

 

Sir, whilst that may have been a valid statement 100 years ago, the wedged-up tourists/investors Thailand wants to attract would reasonably assume access to potable water. I’m a fair-minded person and accept you have a different view on these matters. I have contacted Indiana Jones and he says that in all of his quests, he has never seen that fabled sign regarding the water. Some of the brown stained liquor I have encountered in some of the hotels I have stayed in Patong may have suggested that this water was not of the potable variety. I spoke to the hotel owners about this and they responded “a possible misunderstanding on my part” and that, sir, was good enough for me.

 

 I laugh Billy. I remember a stop in an small Italian island called Pantelleria.  Hotel no fresh water on tap, indeed no place with fresh water. Wash shower brush teeth salt sea water. Want fresh water buy a bottle of water. Cheaper to buy beer, which we all did.

9 hours ago, billythehat said:

<snip> For the whole island to benefit from a constant supply of potable water would require a dedicated site for the attenuation plant (typically a UV contact process) and subsequent distribution. <snip>

The distribution system is a major part of the problem.  I recall the sign at the pumping station on the Kathu side of Patong hill stating that it was for providing potable water. While the water coming out of the pumping station may be potable (which is questionable at best), then flowing through a distribution system that looks like it was designed and is being maintained by children, that water is nowhere near being potable when it reaches your tap.

16 hours ago, DrDave said:

The distribution system is a major part of the problem.  I recall the sign at the pumping station on the Kathu side of Patong hill stating that it was for providing potable water. While the water coming out of the pumping station may be potable (which is questionable at best), then flowing through a distribution system that looks like it was designed and is being maintained by children, that water is nowhere near being potable when it reaches your tap.

Agree that the distribution would be a logistical headache should such plant be installed. The requirement for competent process engineers to permanently maintain the works and final sampled output before it even leaves the treatment site, would see that the works would be moth-balled and never get off the drawing board. In addition, the design of a mains water supply network can be complex in areas of variable topography. Generally, pumped mains with say a pressure up to a maximum of 16 bar and where pipe gradient would exceed 1:300, would need the installation of air valves where the pipe crested from negative and positive gradients, therefore requiring the installation of inspection chambers at these locations. So, in summary, never going to happen there. Salvaging rainfall in tanks within domestic structures for re-use will ever only be of temporary benefit and redundant as a permanent solution. Desalination plant is a pretty pointless and expensive exercise in the demographic under consideration, so where does that leave us? Limited, I would say and the one possible solution that would not upset the “Thai Brown Envelope Society” too much would be the already mooted pumped main from the mainland and the distribution by an expanded tanker battalion in times of drought. The details? Well, on my way to the road to the airport that spurs off the main drag leading to the airport road, I see a children’s school…perhaps we can ask there. I would not be seeking engineering solutions, but what they have that I do not, is a sound understanding of the ‘Thai way’ and how to proceed in such an environment. We often learn a lot from children as testified by my own platoon of nephews and nieces when they point out my own deficiencies when attempting the advanced functions of my smartphone.

There's not many countries anywhere in Asia, and indeed many other regions of the world, where tap water is considered suitable for drinking. Only the most naïve  western tourist would try to drink from a tap in places like Bali, Manila or Patong.

This is overcome with free bottled water available in every hotel I've ever stayed in throughout the region, and, living here, I have regular deliveries of purified drinking water to my house. The cost of this is so low it would shame the cost of similar in the western world.

 

Water from wells, rain collection or pipes is only used for ablution and gardens. 

 

 

How come the "water mafia" have all new water trucks selling water?

Don't their wells run dry?

6 minutes ago, marvin1950 said:

How come the "water mafia" have all new water trucks selling water?

Don't their wells run dry?

I haven't noticed any new trucks, most I see are old and decrepit.

The island hasn't turned into a desert yet. The water sellers have access to lakes and deep wells that still have plenty of water. The water board has been using water from some of these private sources.

16 hours ago, billythehat said:

Agree that the distribution would be a logistical headache should such plant be installed. The requirement for competent process engineers to permanently maintain the works and final sampled output before it even leaves the treatment site, would see that the works would be moth-balled and never get off the drawing board. In addition, the design of a mains water supply network can be complex in areas of variable topography. Generally, pumped mains with say a pressure up to a maximum of 16 bar and where pipe gradient would exceed 1:300, would need the installation of air valves where the pipe crested from negative and positive gradients, therefore requiring the installation of inspection chambers at these locations. So, in summary, never going to happen there. Salvaging rainfall in tanks within domestic structures for re-use will ever only be of temporary benefit and redundant as a permanent solution. Desalination plant is a pretty pointless and expensive exercise in the demographic under consideration, so where does that leave us? Limited, I would say and the one possible solution that would not upset the “Thai Brown Envelope Society” too much would be the already mooted pumped main from the mainland and the distribution by an expanded tanker battalion in times of drought. The details? Well, on my way to the road to the airport that spurs off the main drag leading to the airport road, I see a children’s school…perhaps we can ask there. I would not be seeking engineering solutions, but what they have that I do not, is a sound understanding of the ‘Thai way’ and how to proceed in such an environment. We often learn a lot from children as testified by my own platoon of nephews and nieces when they point out my own deficiencies when attempting the advanced functions of my smartphone.

You should try using paragraphs.

23 hours ago, Old Croc said:

There's not many countries anywhere in Asia, and indeed many other regions of the world, where tap water is considered suitable for drinking. Only the most naïve  western tourist would try to drink from a tap in places like Bali, Manila or Patong.

This is overcome with free bottled water available in every hotel I've ever stayed in throughout the region, and, living here, I have regular deliveries of purified drinking water to my house. The cost of this is so low it would shame the cost of similar in the western world.

 

Water from wells, rain collection or pipes is only used for ablution and gardens. 

 

 

Sir, the dispense of your ablutions to one side, I would humbly suggest that the problems caused by drought does need the considerations of freely given solutions. The potential solutions would benefit the whole and not just the wealthy who can afford tanker deliveries. The endless pollution of mountains of plastic bottle waste dumped onto the environment is equally scandalous. You need to consider what you’re leaving behind for future generations. The majority of collected rainfall from gutters in town structures which could be recycled is diverted into the poorly designed and maintained combined sewer network and therefore wasted. You may return to your ablutions.

7 hours ago, beechbum said:

You should try using paragraphs.

Sir, thank you for your insightful comment and I will attempt to do better in future. I made the classic mistake of assuming I was writing for educated listeners and not children. In penance, I have made another generous donation to my local Stroke disability club and prey I have absolved myself of a most heinous error.

8 hours ago, billythehat said:

Sir, the dispense of your ablutions to one side, I would humbly suggest that the problems caused by drought does need the considerations of freely given solutions. The potential solutions would benefit the whole and not just the wealthy who can afford tanker deliveries. The endless pollution of mountains of plastic bottle waste dumped onto the environment is equally scandalous. You need to consider what you’re leaving behind for future generations. The majority of collected rainfall from gutters in town structures which could be recycled is diverted into the poorly designed and maintained combined sewer network and therefore wasted. You may return to your ablutions.

Obviously your Thailand experience and knowledge consists of a fleeting visit to Patong sometime in the distant past where idiocy or lack of funds forced you to consume water from the tap. Your lack of  knowledge of local expat life is exposed by a belief that home deliveries of purified water is via small disposable containers rather than the large reusable bottles.

Your interest in my ablutions may have something do with your own sexual mores or perhaps just your perchance for talking out of an orifice other than the one on your face. Your mixed use of common and old English language suggest you're possible of great age or perhaps just full of pomposity.

Either way your long distance suggestions about where I may or may not go are regarded with the same distain your posts usually generate. 

 

2 hours ago, Old Croc said:

Obviously your Thailand experience and knowledge consists of a fleeting visit to Patong sometime in the distant past where idiocy or lack of funds forced you to consume water from the tap. Your lack of  knowledge of local expat life is exposed by a belief that home deliveries of purified water is via small disposable containers rather than the large reusable bottles.

Your interest in my ablutions may have something do with your own sexual mores or perhaps just your perchance for talking out of an orifice other than the one on your face. Your mixed use of common and old English language suggest you're possible of great age or perhaps just full of pomposity.

Either way your long distance suggestions about where I may or may not go are regarded with the same distain your posts usually generate. 

 

Sir, I couldn’t help but note from the egregious reply that you had somewhat diverted from the discourse under discussion. I will not be swayed into trading base insults but instead attempt to steer the topic back to the issue concerned, if you so kindly permit.

 

Alternative methods for attenuation can be considered. Storage from highway run-off is an option where water that would normally discharge into the storm water network could be stored/released until required. The storage facilities would typically be balancing ponds or covered underground structures. This of course is not potable water but would be suitable for land irrigation, wash water, and general ablutions etc. Permeable paving and underground cellular based systems are not preferred due to inherent difficulties with long term maintenance. However, if it can be demonstrated that the system has been designed to minimise siltation then these can be considered on a case by case basis. Such attenuation systems can also be utilised in areas given to frequent flooding.

On 5/14/2020 at 1:30 PM, steelepulse said:

Did any areas actually run out of water for a prolonged period of time this long dry season?  I don't recall seeing near as many water shut off articles as the previous few years.

 

 

 

Cherngtalay area struggled for the past couple of months, mains water just a few hours per day often, Officially switched off for the "Wealthier" developments ...