Drought Article - The Nation

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Si Sa Ket, Mul stricken by historic drought

Published on March 8, 2009

The northeastern province of Si Sa Ket has declared nine of its 22 districts drought zones, and the Mul River in Buri Ram is at its lowest in 10 years.

Si Sa Ket governor Senee Jittakasem said the drought was particularly severe at Phu Sing, Sila Lad, Nam Kliang, Rasi Salai, Non Khun, Benjaluk, Prang Ku, Khukhan and Phrai Bung, where ponds and streams had dried up. Water tankers have been dispatched, he said, expressing concern that the dry spell would be long and other districts might be declared disaster zones.

The 10-kilometre Alang Brook in Phayu district was reported dry after five hot months with no rain, affecting some 2,000 families in four villages that depend on it for food and drinking and irrigation water. Sixty-four-year-old resident Sawat Sasang said the Alang had never dried up like this in 45 years and villagers had to dig wells or buy water from tankers.

Farmers in Huai Thap Than district fear the prolonged drought will affect their cows, which are subsisting on well water and shrivelled pasture as temperatures peak at 43ฐC.

Residents of four villages in Tambon Tha Moung of Buri Ram's Satuk district yesterday piled sandbags across the Mul to conserve what water there was. Tambon Administrative Organisation deputy president Chairak Yongram said they had asked the government for funds to dam the Mul to provide water for consumption and farming throughout the year.

A source also reported that the river was polluted by untreated waste from Tambon Satuk Municipality and Satuk Hospital.