Don't Drink The Water

[pnustedt]

Please be aware that rice farmers have been spraying weedkiller all over their fields in preparation for rice sewing. In our village some of the rivers are in a disgraceful state, with a chemical haze across the surface. There is also an unusually large number of people falling sick.

I guess this problem is just affecting the villages at the moment but the water may find its way into town supplies in due course. I would also avoid letting dogs loose around the villages and be suspicious of where wet fish is coming from on the market.

[coventry]

Welcome to Thailand

[coventry]

Pnustedt excuse my flipant remarks as I know you mean good. Problem is that this has been happening for donkeys years. Why do you think the Thais drink rain water ? Stupid they may be but there's a level.

[pop3]

Please be aware that rice farmers have been spraying weedkiller all over their fields in preparation for rice sewing.

.................

Rice farmers spending money on weedkiller, what ever next ?

[bergen]

I only drink bottled Namthip..............that is if I've run out of beer!

[pnustedt]

Pnustedt excuse my flipant remarks as I know you mean good. Problem is that this has been happening for donkeys years. Why do you think the Thais drink rain water ? Stupid they may be but there's a level.

Please do not try to dilute my warning with your flippancy. Whilst much drinking water is from tanks fed by rain water drainage, most of the water used is pumped from wells. This water is used for washing (including dishes from which they eat) showering, etc. and cooking. They also do drink it. The upset of the problem this year is that probably 50% of the inhabitants of our village are ill.

I do not need your welcome to Thailand, I have many years experience here, but I have not experienced this level of pollution before. Maybe, because of the early rains this year, the chemicals have been washed off the land earlier, instead of being absorbed in the soil - but I urge all to be aware.

[coventry]

Thanks for the smack on the wrist Pnustedt. Where I live they have municipal water but don't drink it. That's the same water that comes from the water table that feeds the wells. Only reason why they use the wells is cause it's free. If it's free, health concerns don't enter into it.

Edited May 23, 2008 by coventry

[Gary A]

You may be correct about indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides but at least in my area it is NOT used on rice. One major reason that paddies are flooded is to kill the weeds. Farmers here would never spend money for chemicals in rice paddies other than a little fertilizer.

[pnustedt]

You may be correct about indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides but at least in my area it is NOT used on rice.

In southern Isaan weedkiller is widely used on the paddies, it is quite cheap, cheaper than ploughing and rotovating the land. You will see farmers everywhere spraying from back-pack sprayers. Pesticides will be used a few weeks before harvest. Fertilisers are applied when the plants are about 18in high but the price of these have gone up nearly 100% this year, so maybe alternatives will be used more or farmers will just go without.

I think you are from Loei? If you are growing two crops a year then maybe the weeds have less chance of growing and there is less need for weedkiller. I assure you that weeds do grow in water.

The need to use weedkillers can be mitigated with proper ploughing and rotovating - I have a rice farming business and, in future, will attempt to get farmers around our village not to use them.

[Gary A]

Yes, I am in Loei. We only get one rice crop a year. I was looking at the rice paddies a couple of weeks ago and the only thing that was growing was rice. Apparently they cut it a little late or were quite rough when cutting it. One small paddy has enough growing that I am tempted to let it alone and see what happens. I do plow and use a rotary tiller but they still insist on getting an iron buffalo in there with a harrow before planting. And, yes, my wife accuses me of wasting diesel but she certainly is too tight fisted to buy chemicals. Keep in mind that I am only a very small hobby farmer and I enjoy using my little Yanmar tractor to work the ground. Weeds are indeed a problem on the ground that is not flooded.

[coventry]

You may be correct about indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides but at least in my area it is NOT used on rice.

In southern Isaan weedkiller is widely used on the paddies, it is quite cheap, cheaper than ploughing and rotovating the land. You will see farmers everywhere spraying from back-pack sprayers. Pesticides will be used a few weeks before harvest. Fertilisers are applied when the plants are about 18in high but the price of these have gone up nearly 100% this year, so maybe alternatives will be used more or farmers will just go without.

I think you are from Loei? If you are growing two crops a year then maybe the weeds have less chance of growing and there is less need for weedkiller. I assure you that weeds do grow in water.

The need to use weedkillers can be mitigated with proper ploughing and rotovating - I have a rice farming business and, in future, will attempt to get farmers around our village not to use them.

In the years I've been here I've never ever seen them spray the rice fields with what ever. I live on the boundary of the rice and Tapioca fields and it's Tapioca that they spray with chemicals which then flows down to the rice fields. They put small fish into the rice fields to keep down the mosquito not chemicals. Edited May 23, 2008 by coventry

[Farma]

I have to agree with the warning about chemicals.

I’ve seen chemicals used in a number of places around Issan. I was once shown diseased fish caught on a rice farm prior to the wet season. The person showing me was a village vet of sorts. He explained the deformities were caused by a buildup of farm chemicals as the ponds dried out.

More recently I was advised by a member of the health department not to drink the rain water collected from the roof of a house built next to rice paddies. They said high amounts of chemicals are normally found in rain water trapped near rice fields.

These are experiences from 2 areas of Issan in areas where only rice was grown.

[plachon]

I believe there has likely been a rapid rise in herbicide use as rice farmers get squeezed by lack of labour and high labour costs, and secondly, the growing belief that old traditional methods of farming are less good than "modern" ways, which involve easy fixes out of a packaged product. Bascially, farmers want "sabai, sabai"and "ngai-ngai", rather than spend that little extra effort to do things the "old way". They've been led to believe by TV, radio, print media adverts that it's better and easier to spray a chemical herbicide (cheaper the better) than do the extra ploughing and physical methods of weed control, which includes good water management.

You'll have noticed in recent years across Isaan, they've also got rid of paddy bunds everywhere to make their fields bigger and easier to plough with tractors. Result - less good water management and uneven fields, as erosion moves top soil to lowest point after a year or two. Worse fertility, more weed problems.

So spraying herbicide is just a symptom of a much bigger problem across Isaan of decreasing sustainability of the farming system for most farmers. There are of course exception to the rules of farmers who have seen through the hype and still manage their land well, doing integrated, low-external input farming where on-farm synergies help to boost their yields, lower their costs and improve their incomes, but they are in a minority and often their children don't want to carry on the hard life of farming under the brutal Isaan sun, like their parents and forefathers did. It's a downward trend for most, and the pollution of drinking water is a sign of declining environmental health. Rainwater can be just as dangerous, if not kept scrupulously clean and managed well, but usually from organic pollutants, unlike the inorganics finding their way into the groundwater. Even the filtered bottle water in Thailand, I would wager a bet is full of nitates and phosphates and traces of pesticides, as it is often taken from shallow wells which will be contaminated by agricultural run-off and as chemical inputs increase on the surface, some of it will be finding its way down into the groundwater too.

Worried? You ought to be, no matter where your water comes from, until there are stricter controls of agriculture and independent testing of drinking water sources and products, by rigourous standards and wide parameters. At the moment, the Public Health authorities with low budgets and incomplete coverage do what they can, but it is not at the international standard by a long chalk, much like most other environmental health matters in Thailand (with the possible exception of the banning of smoking in public places, where I believe Thailand is a world leader).

[bergen]

I believe there has likely been a rapid rise in herbicide use as rice farmers get squeezed by lack of labour and high labour costs, and secondly, the growing belief that old traditional methods of farming are less good than "modern" ways, which involve easy fixes out of a packaged product. Bascially, farmers want "sabai, sabai"and "ngai-ngai", rather than spend that little extra effort to do things the "old way". They've been led to believe by TV, radio, print media adverts that it's better and easier to spray a chemical herbicide (cheaper the better) than do the extra ploughing and physical methods of weed control, which includes good water management.

You'll have noticed in recent years across Isaan, they've also got rid of paddy bunds everywhere to make their fields bigger and easier to plough with tractors. Result - less good water management and uneven fields, as erosion moves top soil to lowest point after a year or two. Worse fertility, more weed problems.

So spraying herbicide is just a symptom of a much bigger problem across Isaan of decreasing sustainability of the farming system for most farmers. There are of course exception to the rules of farmers who have seen through the hype and still manage their land well, doing integrated, low-external input farming where on-farm synergies help to boost their yields, lower their costs and improve their incomes, but they are in a minority and often their children don't want to carry on the hard life of farming under the brutal Isaan sun, like their parents and forefathers did. It's a downward trend for most, and the pollution of drinking water is a sign of declining environmental health. Rainwater can be just as dangerous, if not kept scrupulously clean and managed well, but usually from organic pollutants, unlike the inorganics finding their way into the groundwater. Even the filtered bottle water in Thailand, I would wager a bet is full of nitates and phosphates and traces of pesticides, as it is often taken from shallow wells which will be contaminated by agricultural run-off and as chemical inputs increase on the surface, some of it will be finding its way down into the groundwater too.

Worried? You ought to be, no matter where your water comes from, until there are stricter controls of agriculture and independent testing of drinking water sources and products, by rigourous standards and wide parameters. At the moment, the Public Health authorities with low budgets and incomplete coverage do what they can, but it is not at the international standard by a long chalk, much like most other environmental health matters in Thailand (with the possible exception of the banning of smoking in public places, where I believe Thailand is a world leader).

Imho - a good post

[blue eyes]

I talked with the wife about this and this is what she had to say.The people take the machine and turn up the ground,throw the rice seed on the ground,then the rain come and rice grow.Then she said when rice is this tall,pointing to her forarm mid way between her hand and elbow they spray poison kill weeds.I guees that is when it is about 12 inchs.Go figure that one out.I asked ,does it not kill the rice too and she said no.

[blue eyes]

As to the water quality.I have never given it much thought until know we drink rain water but bath with water from the faucet.Which comes from the klong,but........When we are in the village anywere from june to november, I and many other people that I have talked to have "itchy" skin.I now have the thought that it is from the chemicals in the klong water.