Govt confirms water management plans underway

BANGKOK, 18 December 2015 (NNT) – Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chatchai Sarikalya said the volume of water in major dams is relatively low, compared to last year.

Such situation has prompted the authorities to apply water management plans which include the limiting of farming areas, growing of plants which do not need so much water and distributing of water to needed areas with respect to the maintaining of the ecosystem.

Moreover, the government has launched several measures to help drought-affected people and to reduce their costs and debts as well as implement a project to grow plants which do not need so much water.

A budget of 1,167 million baht has been allocated to support the project in February and March. Besides, the ministry staff are yet to educate the farmers on the appropriate uses of water.


-- NNT 2015-12-18

Hehee they have their budget already yet, they have not begun to educate the farmers on the appropriate uses of water.

They must be waiting for everyone to plant their new crops and for the water to be so low that the farmers can't water their crops and nobody has any drinking water yet. What in the world are they waiting for? Does someone need to first teach the ministry how to manage water before they can show anyone else? This has been a problem here for some time now yet, only words have been written and spoken about it. No actions have been taken to fix it

Stable doors and horses come to mind.

They must have known that there would be a problem with

a water shortage from a year ago,and just now they are starting

to make plans,at the beginning of the dry season.

regards worgeordie

The measures announced in this topic wouldn't save enough water for a cat to drink , they have left this journey 10 years too late , the measures would be hard to implement and cause resentment in some areas, there needs to be an positive effort put in place, long term 25 year projects, like desalination units, improving runoff areas and building a few more reservoirs , these short stop gaps will bring them undone possibly as early as next year if there is prolonged drought conditions.............. .

Planning and preparation, Unheard of in Thailand.!

Did I read the same news last year? Looks like re-cycle news.

Allocate budgets, skim the funds, and actually do nothing that will improve things.

All sounds very familiar. Doesn't matter if it's a drought or a flood - bury head in sand, hope it all goes away, but hang on the that budget. When it all goes pear shaped then scream for extra budget and muddle through, taking care to spend the very minimum on the actual issues.

A neighbor, a very senior military officer has been warning us for some months to expect major water supply issues early next year. He's substantially increased the water storage tanks on his property and advises us to do the same.

Of course, no doubt central Bangkok will not even notice and carry on as normal, as unaffected as they were in the 2011 Flood Disaster.

The measures announced in this topic wouldn't save enough water for a cat to drink , they have left this journey 10 years too late , the measures would be hard to implement and cause resentment in some areas, there needs to be an positive effort put in place, long term 25 year projects, like desalination units, improving runoff areas and building a few more reservoirs , these short stop gaps will bring them undone possibly as early as next year if there is prolonged drought conditions.............. .

I agree with you about being 10 years too late but previous governments going back decades are also to blame.

I think that not many governments make long term plans simply because if the project is a success the government at that time will claim all the credit and it may not be the government that started the project and if the project fails they will get the blame.

As an example the Bhumibol dam was started construction in 1958 and was opened 6 years later in 1964. Those 6 years did not of course take into account the planning, compulsory purchase and relocation stages or the EIA/EHIA which nowadays would be mandatory, so a dam like that would perhaps take 10 years or more to build.

Smaller dams would of course take less time depending on the opposition to them.

Desalination plants are really only useful in the coastal regions but no good in rural areas which need water the most.

Maybe vertical farming is the way to go as it recycles water and can use 90% less to produce the same crop

OK then, problem solved

Did I read the same news last year? Looks like re-cycle news.

I am almost 100% sure, you could just take last years paper, change the dates and publish it...no one would actually notice!

Thailand is all talk- no action!

Oh ...wait...the lottery- tickets!!!