Udon Thani Groundwater Resource Office: 14 wells dug in 5 provinces



UDON THANI, 11 January 2016 (NNT) – Udon Thani Provincial Office of Groundwater Resource Director Wittaya Meenisai has disclosed the progress of developing groundwater resource for agriculture in the drought-affected area for the fiscal year 2016.

Udon Thani Provincial Office of Groundwater Resource has drilled 14 groundwater wells out of the planned 22 wells. The 14 wells are located along Udon Thani's five districts including Nong Han district, Ban Phue district, Ban Dung district, Thung Fon district and Kud Chap district.

Udon Thani Provincial Office of Groundwater Resource’s area of responsibility covers four more provinces including Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan, Sakon Nakhon, Nong Khai and Beung Kan.


-- NNT 2016-01-11

This in itself is only a quick fix to a serious problem , unless this resource is managed properly , you will lower the water table to such an extent that your surface water like lakes, swamps will start to dry up ,if rainfall isn't sufficient to take up the loss out of the aquifers it will slowly deplete , then you are in trouble , salt starts to take over the ground , you will end up over time with salt affected ground unsuitable for cropping, the error margin for using underground water is small, also contamination needs to be monitored as crop fertilizer seeps into the ground along with cracked undetected underground fuel tanks, the introduction of more meaningful long term projects like desalination and recycled water ,both are expensive, but possibly the only course of action Thailand can take............................................. .

...and how much water are these wells producing for how many people or crops?

Come on reporter...report!

If we go by the photo, it appears one lucky farmer is getting a well, so what happens for all those living/farming close by, is this another example of "wells for family/friends" and stuff the rest. Udon is a big area, 22 wells is not going to do much good, as stated before, just what flow rate, and recharge rate, do these well have. What pumping equipment is available for distributing water?

Pie-in-the-sky supposed fix up. Installing, monitoring, maintaining takes REAL experise, not your local well-driller who can drill to maybe 50/60 metres and install a 150mm well casing to install a 4" submersible pump.

As for lowering the water table, contaminating the surface with salts and the like and maintaining a sterile well and water supply --huh! what's that?

A token effort really.

...and how much water are these wells producing for how many people or crops?

Come on reporter...report!

This is from NNT.

They are expert at raising more questions than they answer.

If we go by the photo, it appears one lucky farmer is getting a well, so what happens for all those living/farming close by, is this another example of "wells for family/friends" and stuff the rest. Udon is a big area, 22 wells is not going to do much good, as stated before, just what flow rate, and recharge rate, do these well have. What pumping equipment is available for distributing water?

This measure is worrying Rorri, pumping the guts out of the U/Ground water, it will end up like all the beautiful lakes and swamps around Perth and to Perth's North, all dry after the water corp in desperate moves pumped the Gnangara mound , , W.A Now uses 50 % desalinated and are starting on recycled.to complement the dams.