Emergency:Thailand may be completely dry in January

[sandyf]

Thanks for that, I may have the location wrong, Jebel Ali vs Al Ain, the former sounds correct - also, DEWA used to be Dubal, I did the fallback planning for them mid. 1980's when their water intake got bombed during the Iran/Iraq war. But back on topic:

Yes, "reliable: sources tell us it'll all be OK by year end and not to panic, personally, I'm into panic on this one.

Bore holes/wells are running dry in our area. Some of the neighbours, who can afford it, are having to drill deeper to get water. Us included. I've also just finished having rain gutters installed around the house and will be getting rain water tanks put in.

Might be too little, too late, for this year but the dry conditions are serving as a 'wake up call' for me to start storing and conserving water. No matter if the dry conditions don't continue. Nothing wrong with 'future proofing' while it's affordable. I can't imagine the cost of water management systems if everyone is forced to start installing them.

could be a tip to any budding entrepreneurs, small business start-ups . . .

Its the way to go. I had guttering put all round the house when it was built and each year we collect about 20K litres of rainwater. When the wells have become unusable there has been more than enough stored water until the rain came. may not be the case next year.

The wells are from 4 ft concrete rings and I asked my wife to see if they could be made deeper but she was told it couldn't be done. It was a case of nobody wanted to do it, apparently just too dangerous. There is some validity as I have seen some of the concrete rings just disintegrate.

I can't afford to have another made so I may buy another tank to increase the storage capacity.

[Sviss Geez]

I am not saying that Thailand will be dry in January and I don't think anyone else is. Before that happens water quality deteriorates and becomes unusable. A fine line between dry and having water that cannot be used. Also there are parts of Thailand that are very wet and they will always have plenty water.

I fully expect my wells to be unusable by the end of January and I will have over 20K litres of stored water which hopefully last till the rain comes again. By the time my wells run out any water that is available will be coming from further afield at a premium.

There are parts of Thailand facing a problem and to say it doesn't exist, stick their head in the sand and not take precautions, is to say the least irresponsible.

"I am not saying that Thailand will be dry in January and I don't think anyone else is."

Read the OP headline again then and the content of the OP.

"There are parts of Thailand facing a problem and to say it doesn't exist, stick their head in the sand and not take precautions, is to say the least irresponsible."

Absolutely right, but just as irresponsible is to post threads containing nonsense with titles such as "Emergency: Thailand May Be Completely Dry In January" and "Emergency Update, Please Read" as though they are official announcements and that is what this thread is about.

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts and replies have been removed.

[Stevemercer]

An average Thai roof will supply 100,000 litres of water easily if you can afford that much storage. If you have a domestic-water quality filtering system installed, that will last 150 days without any stinting (say October to end March). There will be enough rain to keep you supplied for the rest of the year, even in the driest year.

Of course, Thailand will never run out of drinking water. It is just irrigated crops that will suffer. Many other much drier countries, such as Australia, can still manage irrigation even though it may be only 50% certainty for delivery to farmers. Thailand currently guarantees 100% certainty once crops are in the ground, or none at all if they recommend farmers do not plant. I suspect the days of 100% certainty are over and Thailand will need to move to a different model.

Most urban dwellers will not notice any drought. But I suspect the Government will want to share the pain for the inevitable compensation schemes needed for displaced rural farmers next year. They could increase the unit cost per litre for domestic reticulated systems or introduce a fixed service fee for all customers (including individual apartments). This could be 200 Baht per month (plus water used) which would really rake in the dollars from the Bangkok apartment dwellers.

[billd766]

Thanks for that, I may have the location wrong, Jebel Ali vs Al Ain, the former sounds correct - also, DEWA used to be Dubal, I did the fallback planning for them mid. 1980's when their water intake got bombed during the Iran/Iraq war. But back on topic:

Yes, "reliable: sources tell us it'll all be OK by year end and not to panic, personally, I'm into panic on this one.

Bore holes/wells are running dry in our area. Some of the neighbours, who can afford it, are having to drill deeper to get water. Us included. I've also just finished having rain gutters installed around the house and will be getting rain water tanks put in.

Might be too little, too late, for this year but the dry conditions are serving as a 'wake up call' for me to start storing and conserving water. No matter if the dry conditions don't continue. Nothing wrong with 'future proofing' while it's affordable. I can't imagine the cost of water management systems if everyone is forced to start installing them.

could be a tip to any budding entrepreneurs, small business start-ups . . .

Its the way to go. I had guttering put all round the house when it was built and each year we collect about 20K litres of rainwater. When the wells have become unusable there has been more than enough stored water until the rain came. may not be the case next year.

The wells are from 4 ft concrete rings and I asked my wife to see if they could be made deeper but she was told it couldn't be done. It was a case of nobody wanted to do it, apparently just too dangerous. There is some validity as I have seen some of the concrete rings just disintegrate.

I can't afford to have another made so I may buy another tank to increase the storage capacity.

I use ongs and I have 20 cross connected plus 7 more as a back up. Each ong holds about 1,500 usable litres and in normal years when the government water supply is off for a couple of months I usually get one refill. that gives me about 40,000 usable litres which normally lasts me 8 to 10 weeks for 4 people and 2 houses.

This current year the water was off for 6 months and while we never ran out it got a bit close a couple of times.

We live on the edge of Mae Wong national park and we have about 1 1/2 to 2 metres of soil and then granite below that. The last time my wife asked about bore holes the guy said between 100 and 250,000 baht with no guarantee.

I have looked at getting extra water tanks dug but a 10 x 4 x 2 metre semi-underground tank which would give me perhaps a maximum of 80,000 litres works out at about 1 baht per litre or 80,000 baht. The alternative would be to buy extra ongs at around 1,000 baht for 1,500 litres plus the cost of plumbing. Space is not a big problem. Again the cost is about 1 baht per litre, however I can buy ongs 1,2 3,5 etc at a time and expand slowly.

The first 2 are my normal water storage an the last one is the fresh water storage from the roof.

Edited September 13, 2015 by billd766