Drought crisis: Thai govt mulling emergency decree

[Oziex1]

What happened to drilling ten thousand wells for farmers, or was it ten million?

Off you go just do it, problem sorted overnight.

Brilliant. Let's pump out the ground water to flood rice fields. And when the aquifer runs dry? Time to diversify crops grown.

When the aquifer runs dry - - - the roads collapse!

The aquifers must have run dry as the roads are already collapsing.

[Varangkul]

What happened to drilling ten thousand wells for farmers, or was it ten million?

Off you go just do it, problem sorted overnight.

Brilliant. Let's pump out the ground water to flood rice fields. And when the aquifer runs dry? Time to diversify crops grown.

When the aquifer runs dry - - - the roads collapse!

The aquifers must have run dry as the roads are already collapsing.

You get the picture, then? Pity someone else didnt!

[Jonmarleesco]

'Pitipong denied that farmers' interests were being sacrificed to let the people in Bangkok use tap water ...' Come back PTP. All is forgiven, eh?

[Baerboxer]

"sustain the ecology"

No water for growing food to sustain farmer but water to keep lawns green.

There's something wrong with the Junta's priorities.

There is something wrong with yours.

Water for crops or tap water for households? Drinking water and sanitation is a priority. The current government have acted quicker than Yingluck's hand picked team of experts under her thoughtful leadership who were clueless during the floods, and had to be bailed out by the army.

Think before you try and politicize everything. Don't remember the Isaan darling caring much about sanitation and drinking water when things flooded. More about making sure certain lands had the crops harvested before releasing water and flooding them, and sod those it screwed up.

[Baerboxer]

'Pitipong denied that farmers' interests were being sacrificed to let the people in Bangkok use tap water ...' Come back PTP. All is forgiven, eh?

You are joking?

They deliberately flooded certain parts to protect BKK from flooding, and kept them flooded longer than necessary so as not to let any run off through BKK. PTP couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery and all they were doing was trying to make a quick buck and profiteer from it. The army had to step in and rescue people, make deliveries of essentials etc. All the BiB disappeared, along with their political mates.

[Baerboxer]

What happened to drilling ten thousand wells for farmers, or was it ten million?

Off you go just do it, problem sorted overnight.

Brilliant. Let's pump out the ground water to flood rice fields. And when the aquifer runs dry? Time to diversify crops grown.

Excellent idea. Shouldn't take that long to get enough potatoes growing to feed the country. Ah hell, let'em eat cake instead

Do you think there is actually a shortage of rice then?

[robblok]

'Pitipong denied that farmers' interests were being sacrificed to let the people in Bangkok use tap water ...' Come back PTP. All is forgiven, eh?

ANY country int he world would choose for tap water before farmers. No tap water in large and small cities spells sanitary disaster or worse. Food can always be imported (but with the current rice mountain is not needed)

[magnacarta]

Stop telling them to do this and that, because they are not going to do anything.

Rearrange this well known phrase or saying............ Nail head have you hit the on the.

[Bignose]

A truly desperate time for the many farmers who will be affected by this, as was previously stated I believe the vast majority of those are not rich, they have been planting more to try and reduce the burden of excessive debt and feed their families.

We don't have to think back too far to remember the numerous suicides directly attributable to the non payment from the previous administration, these poor people were at the end of their tether then and not much will have changed since. The planting of additional crops may have been ill planned or advised but it was understandable.

It's a tough choice between water for the farmers or water for the city dwellers, but again it was stated previously (and correctly) that we have had excessive crops and an oversupply of rice. Cruel though it may seem the choice is a simple one, the priority must be Bangkok and the other most populace area's, the farmers will have to make do with what resources are left.

I know, I know it is easy to say and easy to expect the poorest among us to shoulder the bulk of the pain and responsibility, but what else are we to do? I cannot honestly blame previous administrations (of both sides of the political fence) for the dilemma the country now faces, yes it could (or should) have been planned for but the rate of expansion in Thailand has been rapid and widespread. Was it possible to foresee the huge investment and expansion required?

Like the Thai education system this problem will require generational commitment of both funds and effort, lets hope the future administrations have both the integrity and fortitude to see the remedy through to completion...

[tigermonkey]

Go ahead and water the crops. In Bangkok, let them drink deer.

[impulse]

What happened to drilling ten thousand wells for farmers, or was it ten million?

Off you go just do it, problem sorted overnight.

Brilliant. Let's pump out the ground water to flood rice fields. And when the aquifer runs dry? Time to diversify crops grown.

Excellent idea. Shouldn't take that long to get enough potatoes growing to feed the country. Ah hell, let'em eat cake instead

Spuds may be the answer...

1 Kg rice: 2,497 liters of water 1 Kg spuds: 297 liters = 2,200 liters less.

Not that I have a clue whether spuds can grow in Thailand....

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste

[JacChang]

Close down all the swimming pools, stop all the beverages factories...

[VINCENT2012]

in my village we get underground drinkable water for every thing, and the river is 300 only meters from us.

anyway during that time my farang neighbour has a swimming pool fool of drinkable water, and some thai people in front of my house still keep cleaning, even on raining day wich is totally absurd....their motocycle, trucks, cars etc with that same drinkable water, soap included...i already told them many times, it is insane but everybody keeep smilling and don't give a dammed..as they pay the water bill who is so cheap they think they can do what they want.

in thailand as they don't see the catastrophe nobody cares.

oboto could tell the population

others autorities could tell the population what they have to do in water case or energy cases.

another stupid thing thai do is having the air conditioned runinng in hotel room and asking for blankets because it is cold.

i mean these people need education and explanation to understand their proper act

[FangFerang]

"sustain the ecology"

No water for growing food to sustain farmer but water to keep lawns green.

There's something wrong with the Junta's priorities.

How is it the junta's priority, they are talking about tap water for the people. They can't police everyone what they do with that water just like they cant find all the farmers that still use water.

You love blaming the junta but not everything is in their control.

Here in my village they still water the lawn too.. but this water comes from a canal not from the tap. How do you know where the water comes from. ?

No robblok, that is not what the article says. It says 5 for drinking and 13 million to sustain 'the ecology'. A very vague term that can easily be called watering the lawn, pumping to the bottled water producers, and is rather skewed and focused on the city instead of the local farmers.

[FangFerang]

What happened to drilling ten thousand wells for farmers, or was it ten million?

Off you go just do it, problem sorted overnight.

Brilliant. Let's pump out the ground water to flood rice fields. And when the aquifer runs dry? Time to diversify crops grown.

When the aquifer runs dry - - - the roads collapse!

The BKKP reported that roads subsiding this year are fewer than last year, substantially fewer.

[MRYANG]

I agree with previous posters about this problem being,

A. Lightly approached

B. Any recommendation is going to be generally ignored

However, this is in small words written AN IMMINENT DISASTER GROWING and every human on this planet should take this as serious as a heart attack TODAY. The means of doing this in a rational fashion is crude, bordering to ascetic at best but highly necessary for the global survival.

I'm not joking but these are the things we should do TODAY:

1. Stop buying anything we don't need for our ultimate survival.

2. Stop driving anything driven by fossil fuel.

3. Eat only vegetables.

Well, you heard me correct. As a matter of fact, even if EVERYONE on this planet started to do this 2 years ago, we would still not be sure if the ongoing earth changes would stop.

Now, as anyone with a senseful mind understand, neither of these "steps" are going to happen in any measurable scale so ultimately, I think we are on a brink of an environmental "reaction" that will affect every living soul on this planet and there is nothing we can do to prevent this from happen.

With that said, I wish you all a nice and sunny weekend (with maybe a dash of rain).

Edited July 16, 2015 by MRYANG

[asdecas]

ThaiVisa experts exceed even their customary omnipotence and burnished intelligence on this thread today.

And such raw brilliance comes to you straight from early morning barstools, with hairy a*ses planted copiously thereon.

Edited July 16, 2015 by asdecas

[jmccarty]

Here's an idea, use the new submarines to go deep in the earth crust and look for water...

Or, look for knowledge and new thinking how to manage , save and reuse water,

go to Israel and learn from them, the only country in the world that went from water

crisis to water surplus in a few years on ingenuity, inventions and new thinking....

So...you're suggesting Thailand invade Burma and steal their water?

If Burma has a large surplus, they could do like Singapore does (with Malaysia) and buy a pipeline and pipe it in and pay Burma for it. But that is a cheap solution!

[robblok]

"sustain the ecology"

No water for growing food to sustain farmer but water to keep lawns green.

There's something wrong with the Junta's priorities.

How is it the junta's priority, they are talking about tap water for the people. They can't police everyone what they do with that water just like they cant find all the farmers that still use water.

You love blaming the junta but not everything is in their control.

Here in my village they still water the lawn too.. but this water comes from a canal not from the tap. How do you know where the water comes from. ?

No robblok, that is not what the article says. It says 5 for drinking and 13 million to sustain 'the ecology'. A very vague term that can easily be called watering the lawn, pumping to the bottled water producers, and is rather skewed and focused on the city instead of the local farmers.

If that is the case then I agree with you.. it should not be that farmers are sacrificed for industry or bottled water producers. I feel that tap water is most important but the farmers should not be sacrificed for other large users (who have far more financial resources to take a hit).

Was only thinking tap water vs farming.

[elgordo38]

QUOTE:

"

"The Cabinet is concerned that the drought will prolong until next April ..."

... when the next dry season begins and ... conditions are ripe for the next drought ... and, the cycle starts again.

Quote He further revealed that there was a suggestion for an emergency decree on the drought situation to raise public attention to the issue but this will be discussed further as per the Cabinet procedure. Unquote Kind of late on this one Elvis has already left the building

Quote"The Cabinet is concerned that the drought will prolong until next April and the focus should be on planning water usage ahead until next April because we have been using too much water for many years," he said.Unquote. The horse is gone why lock the barn door now? and further down if you read the lengthy article he states "Goveners will have to work hard?" this one really broke me up. What a political statement. Heck that is what they were elected for to work hard not just filling their pockets.

[elgordo38]

"sustain the ecology"

No water for growing food to sustain farmer but water to keep lawns green.

There's something wrong with the Junta's priorities.

Close the golf courses oops cannot do that it would affect tourism. Put notices in the Chinese newspapers that tourists must bring their own water and declare it at the airport that they have enough to cover their stay here or they will be turned back. Lets shoot for 30 million tourists next year.

[Usernames]

Give individual farmers below a certain threshold a direct grant in pay so that poor farmers don't suffer and the bigger farmers are the one to shoulder the pain.

[saroq]

 

Here's an idea, use the new submarines to go deep in the earth crust and look for water...

Or, look for knowledge and new thinking how to manage , save and reuse water,

go to Israel and learn from them, the only country in the world that went from water

crisis to water surplus in a few years on ingenuity, inventions and new thinking....

 

A lot of which was achieved by diverting water that previously flowed into neighboring Arab countries.

No doubt there is a drought but the conversation also needs to be about how much water countries upstream are extracting out of the river systems. China comes to mind.

[spidermike007]

Are they just now putting a plan together to deal with water shortages if the rains don't come until next April?

Should have been done a while ago. Pain free measures like car washing, etc... should be immediately put

into place. Duh.

You are referring to the very foreign quality of vision and the very foreign concept of advanced planning. You plan so that you are prepared for disaster.

[spidermike007]

Are they just now putting a plan together to deal with water shortages if the rains don't come until next April?

Should have been done a while ago. Pain free measures like car washing, etc... should be immediately put

into place. Duh.

You are referring to the very foreign quality of vision and the very foreign concept of advanced planning. You plan so that you are prepared for disaster.

[bil2054]

"sustain the ecology"

No water for growing food to sustain farmer but water to keep lawns green.

There's something wrong with the Junta's priorities.

How is it the junta's priority, they are talking about tap water for the people. They can't police everyone what they do with that water just like they cant find all the farmers that still use water.

You love blaming the junta but not everything is in their control.

Here in my village they still water the lawn too.. but this water comes from a canal not from the tap. How do you know where the water comes from. ?

No robblok, that is not what the article says. It says 5 for drinking and 13 million to sustain 'the ecology'. A very vague term that can easily be called watering the lawn, pumping to the bottled water producers, and is rather skewed and focused on the city instead of the local farmers.

The "ecology" factor is likely the same as the situation in California. Farmers and anti government types are howling because irrigation has been shut down while water is permitted to flow into the deltas and ultimately into the ocean. They blame a bait fish conservation movement, but the simple fact is if the flow does not meet a certain rate, then salt ocean water will back up and cause a salt desert for the foreseable future.

[thaibeachlovers]

It's not like Thailand hasn't been here before. Thais didn't develop a taste for insects because they were growing so much rice.

I remember many years ago there was concern that they might have had to ban soapy massages to conserve water in Bkk .

BTW, no shortage of water north east of Uttaradit and the river from the Sirikit dam is high. Up in the Chiang Mai area, it's raining right now and everything is well watered.

Edited July 17, 2015 by thaibeachlovers