Thai Cabinet to consider desperate need for hundreds of farm wells

webfact · June 22, 2015

Cabinet to consider desperate need for hundreds of farm wells
The nation

BANGKOK: -- The Cabinet will on Tuesday be asked to approve the digging of 269 underground water wells in a bid to maintain 400,000 rai of rice paddies in Central Thailand, an informed source at Government House said yesterday.

Out of the 22 provinces in the Chao Phraya River Basin, there are areas inside and outside the irrigation coverage - the former of which were consisted of 47 million rai with enough water for rice growing and three million rai without enough water, the source said.

Farmers in the three million rai have been asked to postpone their crops.

The 2.3 million rai area outside the irrigation coverage was dependent on water sources and rainfall - about 1.3 million rai of which was had seeds in the ground, the source said.

Some 600,000 rai of that land was in critical need of water as paddies were between 15 to 60 days old and if there were no water in 15 days, they would all die.

The source said those farmers needed help first but the wells - which would be dug by the Water Resources Department and Royal Thai Armed Forces personnel - would each take five days to complete and only cover 400,000 rai.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Cabinet-to-consider-desperate-need-for-hundreds-of-30262876.html

-- The Nation 2015-06-23

ezzra · June 23, 2015

You reap what you saw, you mismanage water resources and plant crop after crop and than

when you have a drought you dig wells, what will happened next time when there will be drought

again and these well are dry? dig more wells? where dose it end?

Farmers of Thailand, learn to use, mange and conserve your water resources....

canopus1969 · June 23, 2015

Quite agree, follow the Californian model

kerrysum · June 23, 2015

I'd agree been there and done that, family happy, no problems, and yes there is always plenty of water, if you know how to use it.....

Muhendis · June 23, 2015

Welcome to Thailand.

Climb the sand dunes of the Isaan desert............

fareastguy · June 23, 2015

Again we see lack of fore-thought & infrastructure including water management... years & years of no development.
Just wait for the rain !!!

Like someone said you reap what you sow... this year it looks like it ain't gonna be rice !!!

RustBucket · June 23, 2015

I would normally agree, but it is not those in charge of the water management fiasco that are reaping what they sowed, the farmers are.

oldsailor35 · June 23, 2015

What does it cost to sink one well, does anyone know ?

oldsailor35 · June 23, 2015

It is very easy to criticize these poor uneducated farmers. But they have no other way to make a living income. As with many western countries, there is no Social Security, so they do what they have to do to survive, plant rice and pray for rain.

Have some compassion !

halloween · June 23, 2015

I have to wonder if before this policy was announced, anybody thought to consult a hydrologist or anybody else with in-depth knowledge as to what the long term effects might be?

OTOH, they never seem to do it with any other policy, so why start now.

seajae · June 23, 2015

what is needed is people that actually know what they are talking about which means bringing in experts from overseas but this will not happen as it is too face losing to admit that you have no idea how to fix the problem. Farmers also need to take some of the blame for continually doing the same thing without any future planning, they know they lack water but refuse to do anything about it except try to blame everyone else for their lack of fore thought. They have floods every year virtually but simply let all the water drain away then try to plant when they are back in a drought and have no water to sustain it, time to forget about face & bring in the experts so this cycle does not continue

The Deerhunter · June 23, 2015

There are two ways of doing it. Shallow wells.perhaps 10 -15 meters or so: Dig it manually with back hoes & position concrete well liners by hand; Deep wells and some shallow wells are dug by by auger/ big drill. Both ways around 100,000 baht including pump & pipes, up to 200,000 baht for deep difficult one, I think. Electric connection lines & storage cost extra. In much of Thailand the back hoe method cannot get deep enough to reach the water table. I think much of Isaan has to go to 70 meters or more but that is only by reading other posts previously. In response to Halloween's suggestion to get professional hydro-logical or engineering reports etc we apparently had the local well driller/water diviner round here not long ago with his two bent pieces of wire. He drills wells on no -water no-payment basis, which I think in Thailand would be pretty safe as there is a lot of underground water under much of the country but for how long we don't know. I am sure no-one knows depletion v/s replenishment ratios, or whether the water is coming from a renewable water table or is a non renewable ancient artesian source.(refer Halloween) People are already having to dig deeper wells.

Edited June 23, 2015 by The Deerhunter

The Deerhunter · June 23, 2015

Refer Movie "Chinatown" starring Jack Nicholson.

elgordo38 · June 23, 2015

Don't forget the cost to deepen the well maybe every year if the drought hangs in there plus add in all of the building going on. I would say here the rate of new condo's etc. is going up by 5% a year. People in their everyday habits are the biggest water wasters. The choice may come down to rice to eat or a super clean body.

Eric Loh · June 23, 2015

Good grief. The cabinet getting desperate now and they are still considering. Did the drought only started yesterday and don't they know this is El Niño year? Mismanagement or neglect. Take your pick.

loong · June 23, 2015

Well, I think that this could be a good idea, but not for rice farmers. Rice requires a huge amount of water and who knows what effects it may have on the water table?

A stable water supply for irrigation in conjunction with cash crops that require regular but minimal watering could well be the way to go. Of course the danger is that hundreds of thousands of rai are planted with the same crop in the same area and the farmgate price drops off a cliff.

Research, co-ordination and organisation could make it work.

billd766 · June 23, 2015

What happened to the plans and the money spent by the previous government who WERE warned that this was coming?

Please don't dump your crap on this government when previous Thaksin governments had years and plenty of government money to fix this problem.

Edited June 23, 2015 by billd766

bassman · June 23, 2015

Deep wells for lower water requirement crops (corn, soybean, wheat, grasses) could be advantages but to flood rice paddies to a depth that is required is asinine. There is no profit margin today to grow rice with deep wells that justifies the cost or the long term environmental damage of dropping the water tables and the cost to farmers in energy for the pumping of that water.

Loong you are spot on!

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