PM Prayut urges increase in water source and reserving capacity

[webfact]

PM urges increase in water source and reserving capacity

BANGKOK, 18 May 2015 (NNT) – The Prime Minister urges haste on excavating water sources to increase the capacity of water reserves ahead of the upcoming rainy season.

The Committee for Water Resources Management has agreed to push forward of the 2015-2026 Water Resources Management Strategy as previously approved by the Cabinet. The strategies are categorized into 6 directives, namely restoring watershed forest and preventing erosion, solving the shortage of water for consumption, solve shortages of water for manufacturing, disaster prevention and mitigation, water quality management, and the overall general management of water resources.

Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has said that he has expedited the water sources surveying project to supply more water for consumption and for the agricultural sector, including improvements in irrigation and the creation of more water reserves based on the existing budget. These objectives are to be completed before the upcoming rainy season.

He has said that the water retaining capacity needs to be improved, especially in lowland areas, by extending the vicinity of the water receiving area while minimizing effects to the ecology in relation to the amount of precipitation in each area.

He has also urged the general public to create their own water reservoirs through small ponds or water wells to reserve rainwater for their agricultural activities.

Regarding floods, the Prime Minister addressed that the government is seeking to prevent the continuous flood disaster from reoccurring, while some inundation is still expected should the amount of precipitation exceed the water receiving capacity.

He has also addressed the drought disaster, especially in the area of 3,000 subdistricts where droughts happen every year, that the solution can be achieved from an improved irrigation system, along with the adjustment of farmers' plantation type and through agricultural zoning.


-- NNT 2015-05-18

[clockman]

Do not worry, Sometime in the future. The floods will come! Are they prepared?

[toybits]

There is a thing called watershed and forested areas which collect water during the rain months and slowly release them through creeks and rivers. The watersheds also allow water to recharge the aquifers or subsurface layers of the earth which store water and can be accessed by well or are sometimes made available by springs. The problem is that these watersheds have been destroyed by encroachment by influential persons and will take a generation to reestablish. But reestablishing watersheds is a long term solution requiring constant vigilance and sustained implementation. Question is - will the current government and the ones succeeding it be able to stay the course? Hmmm...

Watershed reestablishment will also have less problems than say - building a dam which could displace several communities and disrupt the ecosystem...

[halloween]

There is a thing called watershed and forested areas which collect water during the rain months and slowly release them through creeks and rivers. The watersheds also allow water to recharge the aquifers or subsurface layers of the earth which store water and can be accessed by well or are sometimes made available by springs. The problem is that these watersheds have been destroyed by encroachment by influential persons and will take a generation to reestablish. But reestablishing watersheds is a long term solution requiring constant vigilance and sustained implementation. Question is - will the current government and the ones succeeding it be able to stay the course? Hmmm...

Watershed reestablishment will also have less problems than say - building a dam which could displace several communities and disrupt the ecosystem...

Instead of giving a couple of examples of what a dam could do, why don't you consider a few of the things it would do, such as store water for the dry season, mitigate floods in the wet, generate "high value" electricity, be the basis of many industries, provide recreational areas, be a source of food, and improve the local micro-climate?

[Robby nz]

There is a thing called watershed and forested areas which collect water during the rain months and slowly release them through creeks and rivers. The watersheds also allow water to recharge the aquifers or subsurface layers of the earth which store water and can be accessed by well or are sometimes made available by springs. The problem is that these watersheds have been destroyed by encroachment by influential persons and will take a generation to reestablish. But reestablishing watersheds is a long term solution requiring constant vigilance and sustained implementation. Question is - will the current government and the ones succeeding it be able to stay the course? Hmmm...

Watershed reestablishment will also have less problems than say - building a dam which could displace several communities and disrupt the ecosystem...

Instead of giving a couple of examples of what a dam could do, why don't you consider a few of the things it would do, such as store water for the dry season, mitigate floods in the wet, generate "high value" electricity, be the basis of many industries, provide recreational areas, be a source of food, and improve the local micro-climate?

Yours Halloween is the list given by the proponents of dams of the good things that a dam should do but does not take into consideration the effects on the environment or people, these things often can be extremely bad and often more than balance out the good.

I suspect you should go and have a look at some of the places dams have been proposed, particularly the ones in national parks.

One in particular that I am coming to know quite well is in the Mae Wong National Park where the proposed dam on the Mae Wong River would flood many tens of thousands of acres of both regenerating and pristine forest which is part of the last big forest wilderness in Asia and home to some of the rarest and most threatened species on earth.

In that instance to put a dam where it is proposed would be an ecological disaster.

Those who sit in offices and plan these things from maps often have no understanding of the environment and can only see the power and irrigation that would eventuate, of course all the thousand of lovely big trees that would be felled and sold, including rare rosewood, would have no bearing on any decision.

[toybits]

There is a thing called watershed and forested areas which collect water during the rain months and slowly release them through creeks and rivers. The watersheds also allow water to recharge the aquifers or subsurface layers of the earth which store water and can be accessed by well or are sometimes made available by springs. The problem is that these watersheds have been destroyed by encroachment by influential persons and will take a generation to reestablish. But reestablishing watersheds is a long term solution requiring constant vigilance and sustained implementation. Question is - will the current government and the ones succeeding it be able to stay the course? Hmmm...

Watershed reestablishment will also have less problems than say - building a dam which could displace several communities and disrupt the ecosystem...

Instead of giving a couple of examples of what a dam could do, why don't you consider a few of the things it would do, such as store water for the dry season, mitigate floods in the wet, generate "high value" electricity, be the basis of many industries, provide recreational areas, be a source of food, and improve the local micro-climate?

Oh BTW, did you know that Dams also need watersheds? Without watersheds, these fabulous dams will be filled with silt making them useless to you and me. I will not be dragged into an argument about the benefits or risks of having a dam - but you are welcome to do that for us since you seem to know a lot about it. Please go on...

Edited May 19, 2015 by toybits