Cabinet to be asked to lift ban onuse of artesian water in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces

[webfact]

Cabinet to be asked to lift ban on the use of artesian water in city



BANGKOK: -- The Water Resources Department will ask the cabinet next month to lift the decade-old ban against the use of artesian water in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces to alleviate water shortage problem.

Department director-general Supote Tovichakchaikul said Wednesday that the lifting of the ban imposed in 2005 by the cabinet then was a precautionary measure to deal with drought situation next year which is expected to be serious due to a 10 percent shortfall of average rainfall throughout the year.

There are less than 5,000 million cubic metres of water in the country’s five major dams and it is not sure that the water will be enough for household use until next September, said Mr Supote.

The ban on the use of artesian water in Bangkok and peripherals was introduced to ease land subsidence in the city.

Mr Supote estimated that about 500,000 cubic metres/day would be pumped from artesian wells for use and this will not affect land subsidence.

As for 40 other provinces in the rest of the country which are expected to face water shortage problem, he said the problem in the southern and eastern regions would be less serious as the water stored in various reservoirs will be enough to meet consumption demand.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/cabinet-to-be-asked-to-lift-ban-on-the-use-of-artesian-water-in-city


-- Thai PBS 2015-12-17

[trogers]

Stop the bleeding before asking for transfusions.

Problem for Bangkok is that almost half the water consumed daily is not by households. Take a guess as to what activity consumes that...

[ezzra]

Allowing Thais to drill artesian water wells will very soon cause sink holes all over the place.. and than the government

will rush to compensate and fix the problems... as usual, who ever thought about this idea left their brains

at the massage parlor last night....

[jaltsc]

Stop the bleeding before asking for transfusions.

Problem for Bangkok is that almost half the water consumed daily is not by households. Take a guess as to what activity consumes that...

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" has no translation in the Thai language.

[MESmith]

Wont that lead to problems such as subsidence, salt water in the ground water. Then what? All for more rice?

[dru2]

I believe illegal artesian wells are a major reason Bangkok is fast sinking below sea level - but let's not worry about the near future.

In addition to an improved irrigation system and more dams, why not begin planning and building a new capital at Nakhon Ratchasima on the Khorat Plateau?

[FloridaExport]

This is a terrible idea. It will only lead to major infrastructure problems.

I have a better plan: stop automatic urinals from flushing both before and after they are used. One flush is enough. I just saved enough water for 1000 rice paddies.

Edited December 17, 2015 by FloridaExport

[Autonuaq]

drilling water maker the problem bigger due to the water extration

waterlevels are dropping around and wil cause other problems.

Beside the 'fresh' water will be repalced with 'sea' water that will enter the land mass deeper from the shore.

and sea water will intorduce new problems too.

they not want to learn the lessons form other countries.

[hkt83100]

Wont that lead to problems such as subsidence, salt water in the ground water. Then what? All for more rice?

No, more beer I guess.

[toybits]

This is another nail to the coffin. If they allow this to happen, expect more land subsidence and flooding.

[MESmith]

Ban folk from washing their cars everyday

[Thian]

Stop the bleeding before asking for transfusions.

Problem for Bangkok is that almost half the water consumed daily is not by households. Take a guess as to what activity consumes that...

Okay i'll guess.....soapy massages?

[masuk]

This is a terrible idea. It will only lead to major infrastructure problems.

I have a better plan: stop automatic urinals from flushing both before and after they are used. One flush is enough. I just saved enough water for 1000 rice paddies.

These were discontinued in Australia many years ago.

As you say, they waste a lot of water.

As for ground subsidence, it's a real worry and Jakarta has parts now below sea level. Why is BKK not affected by using ground water? (It's not 'artesian')

[Estrada]

"Mr Supote estimated that about 500,000 cubic metres/day would be pumped from artesian wells for use and this will not affect land subsidence".

20 years ago I was advising the BMA and MWA to stop the pumping of artesian water from the Bangkok Water table. At that time the land was sinking rapidly fortunately the stopped pumping and the sinking was reduced to 1/10th of the previous otherwise we would all be underwater by now. Mr Supote is talking absolute nonsense despite the disastrous floods in 2011. If they start pumping again now the land will rapidly sink once again.

[bangon04]

"Mr Supote estimated that about 500,000 cubic metres/day would be pumped from artesian wells for use and this will not affect land subsidence".

20 years ago I was advising the BMA and MWA to stop the pumping of artesian water from the Bangkok Water table. At that time the land was sinking rapidly fortunately the stopped pumping and the sinking was reduced to 1/10th of the previous otherwise we would all be underwater by now. Mr Supote is talking absolute nonsense despite the disastrous floods in 2011. If they start pumping again now the land will rapidly sink once again.

Well a cynic might conclude that the "authorities" are not really interested in 5-10 years in the future. They just have to hang on to power and keep making money until the future of Thai power is decided .