Rainfall Cleans Dust, Air In Chiang Mai

[george]

Rainfall cleans dust, air in Chiang Mai

Rain starting to lay the dust in Chiang Mai

CHIANG MAI: -- A few days of rainfall have eased the problem of fine dust in Chiang Mai, but health officials are still concerned about residents' health after 30,000 people reportedly suffered respiratory illnesses from March 1-17.

Local authorities are continuing their anti-outdoor-burning campaign, opening fountains and introducing twig-crusher machines to tackle the problem.

Following three to four days of rainfall, Chiang Mai's air-quality stations yesterday found PM10 fine-particle dust to be lower than the safety standard of 120 micrograms per cubic metre.

Earlier this month the province had been shrouded by fine dust for 11 consecutive days, especially on March 14, when the dust in the city centre peaked at a massive 238.3ตg/m3.

The poor air quality caused 30,000 people to suffer from respiratory illnesses, and the number of patients could reach 100,000 by month-end, said Public Health Office academic Molwipa Sirihorachai yesterday.

The number of asthma patients had doubled compared to the same period last year, she said.

Forest fires were blamed as a major cause of the problem. Royal Forestry Department academic Wichai Kitmee said that from February 26 to March 10 fires had ravaged 6,000 rai compared to the 9,000 rai damaged last year.

He said there would be another burning from late March into April to clear 180,000 rai for farming. The last time farmers burnt their land was in November-December to clear 55,000 rai, he said.

Meanwhile, Chiang Mai Administrative Organisation president Boonlert Buranuprakorn said the agency had spent Bt4 million on 32 twig-crusher machines for all districts to study the possibility of farmers using them instead of resorting to burning to clear their land.

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Drought hits northern Thailand; Stored water supplies dropping

PHICHIT, March 22 (TNA) - More than 200 farmers in the northern province of Phichit protested Sunday, demanding that the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) deepen provincial canals so that they can receive enough irrigation water for their rice crop as severe drought batters the region.

The protesting farmers gathered at a dyke in Sam Ngam district saying they held the RID responsible as over 10,000 rai of rice seedlings have already died because there is insufficient water for farming.

They petitioned the RID chief through the deputy department chief, urging him to give urgent help solve the water shortage problem. The protesters later dispersed without violence.

In Lampang province, severe drought is already parching 13 districts, and next month will be worse, unless relieved by the rains. Over 200,000 villagers are affected.

However, in Chiang Mai, more than 1,600 people in Hang Dong district are suffering after heavy rain and winds damaged their houses were damaged by a tropical storm late Friday. Officials have visited the area to provide assistance.

The northern region’s Meteorological Department warns that the lower North faces more thunderstorms in the next few days. Scattered showers will be seen between March 25-28.

Meanwhile, water stored at Sirikit dam in the northern province of Uttaradit now stood at only 5.8 billion cubic metres, or 61 per cent of the total capacity. The authorities are conserving water supplies, releasing only between 30-35 million cubic metres of water daily to help farmers as only five million cubic metres of water flows into the dam a day.

-- TNA 2009-03-22

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"Rainfall cleans dust, air in Chiang Mai"

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