Water Problems On Samui & Koh Phangan

[LaoPo]

I might be a dummy but I was reading in another topic about the increasing worries about the water supply on the islands.

In water-short countries like many places in Spain (also especially the Balearic islands and other 'dry' parts of Mediterrean countries) they have, since centuries (!) a very simply solution.

BUILD WATER TANKS UNDER (or next to) THE HOUSES/VILLAS, BUNGALOW-RESORTS, HOTELS ETC.....

Why isn't this done on the islands?

Rainwater is 'flooding' for free and why isn't it catched and stored in large (concrete) watertanks, or am I completely wrong and do they do that already?

Millions of M3's of rainwater are coming from the sky...for free, and most of it runs into the sea.

Why not control it?

Anyone who is controlling his watersupply by catching it?

Just curious.

PS: I would like to add that even today in every single house/villa or hotel that's being built in the above mentioned countries (if not connected to the city-water supply), watertanks are constructed to catch the rainwater for 'dry' periods, AND, there is a lot less rainwater in these countries than in Tropical countries like Thailand!

LaoPo

Edited August 19, 2006 by LaoPo

[Khun Jean]

The temple on Koh SiChang (Chinese) do that for already a long long time.

It probably is because you need more than 1 active braincell to make the link "a lot of rain" and "not enough water". And of course their is nobody that owns rain water so who is going to make money by selling it.

A bigger problem is actually what to do when it is used. Just dumping it into the sea or in the groundwater is an environmental disaster waiting to happen.

[Samuian]

Any idea how many m3 even a small resort needs a day? How big should be this cisterne? how about the cost of building such big container? How about the size of it, say if only watering the garden once a day, in a small sized resort consumes approx. 4 m3 already!

From mid January till mid April there are approx. 90 + dry days, getting hotter day by day.... there is including customer, kitchen, cleaners consumption and use of water 12-15 m3 per day! 1080 - 1350 m3 only for the time from Jan.-Apr.! Are you aware of the sheer size of a storage tank like this?

And what happens if, like last year, it doesn't rain plentyful in the Monsoon - season, followed by a very hot and dry year way into June - then again no effecient rainfalls and....bang!

How much should be calculated for "emergencies" like this? in case, should the reservoir hold enough for an entire year? that would be somewhere in realm of 4-5000 m3 ! alone the price for the land to bury something of the size would be prohibiting expensive.

Already worked out how much water your household consumes and how to store this?

Small, private household all over Thailand utilize rainwater in concrete or earthen vessels - but by far not enough!

And with 'modern times" and McDonald'ism arriving in T. these things start to disappear - water does come out of a tap....until it doesn't.

A Pipelinesystem exists already, water shed areas are in the making, reservoirs are widened and deepend, maybe a dam, of one of Samui Valleys would be a good idea, much better Idea then de-salination plants (salination of the shore) and piping water for miles from Nakhon si Thammarat's watershed areas.

Large Hotels like the Santiburi in Mae Nam are recycling some of the 'used' water for flushing toilets and watering the extensive gardens.

It should be in the palnning to use concepts which do SAVE water right from the beginning! Like a garden with only local plants, which survive a drought, or very hot weather without a sprinklersystem!

If I only think on the water usage of the Santithani Golfcourse to keep the "Greens" - green!

Or the endless number of "infitnity" swimmingpools in ever increasing"Villa-Projects"

Edited August 23, 2006 by Samuian

[LaoPo]

.... there is including customer, kitchen, cleaners consumption and use of water 12-15 m3 per day! 1080 - 1350 m3 only for the time from Jan.-Apr.! Are you aware of the sheer size of a storage tank like this?

You made some good points here, Samuian, but be realistic....

12-15 M3 per day/per household???? ....are you sure????

That's an enormous amount of water and I'm almost certain that kind of water usage is excessive and not normal in an everage household!

Sorry, I misread your post; you were talking about a small resort...

Anyway, I still think that building a 'cisterne' is a wise thing to do, once you're constructing a house or other 'outlet' just for emergencies and dry periods.

Why let he free rainwater run away into the sea?

LaoPo

Edited August 23, 2006 by LaoPo

[Samuian]

.... there is including customer, kitchen, cleaners consumption and use of water 12-15 m3 per day! 1080 - 1350 m3 only for the time from Jan.-Apr.! Are you aware of the sheer size of a storage tank like this?

You made some good points here, Samuian, but be realistic....

12-15 M3 per day/per household???? ....are you sure????

That's an enormous amount of water and I'm almost certain that kind of water usage is excessive and not normal in an everage household!

Sorry, I misread your post; you were talking about a small resort...

Anyway, I still think that building a 'cisterne' is a wise thing to do, once you're constructing a house or other 'outlet' just for emergencies and dry periods.

Why let he free rainwater run away into the sea?

LaoPo

As I wrote, it was very common on samui and still is elsewhere in Thailand - but by far not enough!

I personally think that it is a VERY good Idea to save rainwater - but it's not done in an efficient way!

Yes, you misread the statement.... but corrected it...

I made the suggestion to the owner of the resort at which i am employed, but only to recieve a smile....there is plenty of m2 of roof area, all in all they would catch quite a lot of rainwater, yes, but.... where to store it and how? That is a big problem to be solved....

Edited August 23, 2006 by Samuian

[nomadspike]

don't know about the resorts but last year i was renting a house on KP and we had 2 open tanks, covered with netting, that collected rainwater which was used for showering and the kitchen tap...

.... there is including customer, kitchen, cleaners consumption and use of water 12-15 m3 per day! 1080 - 1350 m3 only for the time from Jan.-Apr.! Are you aware of the sheer size of a storage tank like this?

You made some good points here, Samuian, but be realistic....

12-15 M3 per day/per household???? ....are you sure????

That's an enormous amount of water and I'm almost certain that kind of water usage is excessive and not normal in an everage household!

Sorry, I misread your post; you were talking about a small resort...

Anyway, I still think that building a 'cisterne' is a wise thing to do, once you're constructing a house or other 'outlet' just for emergencies and dry periods.

Why let he free rainwater run away into the sea?

LaoPo

As I wrote, it was very common on samui and still is elsewhere in Thailand - but by far not enough!

I personally think that it is a VERY good Idea to save rainwater - but it's not done in an efficient way!

Yes, you misread the statement.... but corrected it...

I made the suggestion to the owner of the resort at which i am employed, but only to recieve a smile....there is plenty of m2 of roof area, all in all they would catch quite a lot of rainwater, yes, but.... where to store it and how? That is a big problem to be solved....