Chiang Mai experiences worst drought crisis in 20 years

[webfact]

Chiang Mai experiences worst drought crisis in 20 years

CHIANG MAI, 8 July 2015 (NNT) - Chiang Mai is experiencing the worst drought crisis in two decades, with dams expected to last until August.

According to the report, there is only 12 percent of water left at Mae Kuang Udom Thara Dam or 31.9 million cubic meters. The second major dam, Mae Ngat Somboon Chon Dam, has only 57 million cubic meters of water left. Most of the remaining water will be used to produce tap water for the entire province.

Around 38,000 cubic meters is used daily to produce tap water for public consumption. Chiang Mai needs about 15 million cubic meters of water monthly. Only 47 million cubic meters can be released into the streams or for other public purposes.

The Royal Irrigation Department said the water levels in these two dams would be enough to sustain daily consumption in the province until August, if there were no more rain.

The water levels in the Ping River have declined by as much as 75 percent. The water situation has prompted authorities to call it the worst drought crisis the province has seen in two decades.


-- NNT 2015-07-08

[Thailand]

No contradictions here then!

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/838842-reserve-water-sufficient-for-chiang-mai-until-rainy-season/

[PepperMe]

Lol..... It was reported here earlier that there was absolutely no problem with CM's water supply because it was definitely going to rain at the end of this month..... Promise.

Casn these so called experts not get together and agree what the actual situation is rather than issuing completely conflicting situations to confuse the public.

I notice they obviously are not taking evaporation into account and the fact that evaporation increases exponentially as the water levels drop. As the reservoirs get shallower the water heats up and evaporation increses dramatically. So they probably have a lot less water than they think.

An example, go outside into the sun with two equal glasses of water. pour one glass into a tray and the other glass leave as s, and measure the time each takes to evaporate. The tray will be dry within hours while the glass will takes days. That is the difference.

[Just1Voice]

Drove by the Ping on Sunday. Lowest I've seen it in the 7 years I've been here.

[Sparkles]

Drove by the Ping on Sunday. Lowest I've seen it in the 7 years I've been here.

South of the weir, they put in to hold the water back near the city,you could walk across it.

Its 2.15 pm here in Hang Dong and black clouds are hovering overhead much as they have done for the last few weeks.

Need 2 solid days rain to soak into the soil,a shower just evaporates.

[Just1Voice]

Drove by the Ping on Sunday. Lowest I've seen it in the 7 years I've been here.

South of the weir, they put in to hold the water back near the city,you could walk across it.

Its 2.15 pm here in Hang Dong and black clouds are hovering overhead much as they have done for the last few weeks.

Need 2 solid days rain to soak into the soil,a shower just evaporates.

I'm S/E of the city on the outer ring road. We've had dark clouds form up for the past 2-3 days, but no rain, and the clouds blow away.

[Sparkles]

Drove by the Ping on Sunday. Lowest I've seen it in the 7 years I've been here.

South of the weir, they put in to hold the water back near the city,you could walk across it.

Its 2.15 pm here in Hang Dong and black clouds are hovering overhead much as they have done for the last few weeks.

Need 2 solid days rain to soak into the soil,a shower just evaporates.

I'm S/E of the city on the outer ring road. We've had dark clouds form up for the past 2-3 days, but no rain, and the clouds blow away.

Raining in Banwangtan, Hang Dong now .....oh hang on its stopped !

[Just1Voice]

Just went out and looked. A few dark clouds over the city, but nothing here.

[el jefe]

Raining heavily now in Chiang Puak!

[Tywais]

Pouring down rain at CMU at the moment. Time to pop up the Rain topic.

[kaptainrob]

Enjoy it for a few minutes more ...

[pchansmorn]

I live at a condo in Nonthaburi, every day I see the gardner watering the yard he spends half a day to water, never really waters the roots of the plants, just showers the leaves, the garden is on the 4th floor of the building so the water never makes it into the ground, it's more like a huge cement container. I have been here for 2 years and the only change I have been able to make is that now he uses a faucet for his hand watering, before he would sit the water can on the floor of the shower and walk away. Not a high education level, but if some one just told him the proper way it would help. Every week Im in the office complaining about the excessive water use, nothing has changed. I explained how they could easily install a drip irrigation system for very little money. So now Bangkok has no water, and the plants will all die, and the pool will be used as a back up for drinking water. No more swimming. This is normal behaviour for the Thai people. Wait till you run out of water before you think about making any changes. The healthcare system is the same, no preventive care wait till you get sick first, then deal with the problems. Welcome to Thailand.

[meltingpot2015]

For the period 1981-2010, average rainfall and average number of rainy days is highest in August and September, according to this and this.

Same pattern for 2000 - 2012. Rainfall highest in August September. see here.

Last year (2014) in June and July CHang Mai (Doi Ang Kang - presumably this is where its measured) enjoyed record rainfalls. See:

http://www.tmd.go.th/programs/uploads/yearlySummary/Annual2014.pdf

[Ulic]

Lol..... It was reported here earlier that there was absolutely no problem with CM's water supply because it was definitely going to rain at the end of this month..... Promise.

Casn these so called experts not get together and agree what the actual situation is rather than issuing completely conflicting situations to confuse the public.

I notice they obviously are not taking evaporation into account and the fact that evaporation increases exponentially as the water levels drop. As the reservoirs get shallower the water heats up and evaporation increses dramatically. So they probably have a lot less water than they think.

An example, go outside into the sun with two equal glasses of water. pour one glass into a tray and the other glass leave as s, and measure the time each takes to evaporate. The tray will be dry within hours while the glass will takes days. That is the difference.

In your example I think you will find that it is increasing the water surface area pouring the water into a

tray that increases the evaporation rate much more than the higher water temperature.

[Tywais]

Inflammatory posts and replies to it removed.

[meltingpot2015]

Lol..... It was reported here earlier that there was absolutely no problem with CM's water supply because it was definitely going to rain at the end of this month..... Promise.

Casn these so called experts not get together and agree what the actual situation is rather than issuing completely conflicting situations to confuse the public.

I notice they obviously are not taking evaporation into account and the fact that evaporation increases exponentially as the water levels drop. As the reservoirs get shallower the water heats up and evaporation increses dramatically. So they probably have a lot less water than they think.

An example, go outside into the sun with two equal glasses of water. pour one glass into a tray and the other glass leave as s, and measure the time each takes to evaporate. The tray will be dry within hours while the glass will takes days. That is the difference.

In your example I think you will find that it is increasing the water surface area pouring the water into a

tray that increases the evaporation rate much more than the higher water temperature.

Same principle used for salt farming. I reckon the salt ponds cannot be made very deep if we want maximum speed of evaporation.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Until August.

If there were no more rain.

LOL.

Dudes.. please. Not sure if the journos or government have lost the plot but come on, find a new career.

[Mapguy]

Drove by the Ping on Sunday. Lowest I've seen it in the 7 years I've been here.

There are a few old photos around of when the Ping was not channeled and people almost walking across next to the Iron Bridge. Haven't got one, unfortunately.

[Loaded]

Wife explained that many locals use 'local' knowledge. The Ping 'flows' across a wide area under the city and is accessed by bore holes and wells. Thais call these access points 'taa naam' - eye of the water. Buckets and pumps in back gardens have always been used to supplement the government's supply of water.

The current mayor has been attacked because his flood prevention scheme, that includes using deep concrete walls to block city flooding, also obstructs underground water reaching traditional taa naams.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Loaded

[MESmith]

Wife explained that many locals use 'local' knowledge. The Ping 'flows' across a wide area under the city and is accessed by bore holes and wells. Thais call these access points 'taa naam' - eye of the water. Buckets and pumps in back gardens have always been used to supplement the government's supply of water.

The current mayor has been attacked because his flood prevention scheme, that includes using deep concrete walls to block city flooding, also obstructs underground water reaching traditional taa naams.

What do they want? Flooding or wells for drought? I'd have thought the aquifer would flow round the deep concrete walls from upstream. Groundwater levels most likely lowered due to farmers pumping 24/7 to grow rice.