Drought crisis in Thailand to get worse this year

[webfact]

Drought to get worse this year



BANGKOK: -- The drought crisis this year is expected to get worse with even more territories being affected.

Severe depletion of numerous natural water resources are now seen in several regions of the country.

Many districts are now badly affected with shortage of water supplies for daily consumption and residents have been forced to drill artesian wells to get to subterranean water sources while others have no choice but to buy water from merchants.

The situation is so bad that the government has had to coordinate with the Royal Thai Army and the Irrigation Department to carry out massive dredging of sediment in waterways and locating new, and expanding existing, natural water sources.

The Royal initiated ‘Kaem Ling’ or ‘Monkey Cheeks’ project has been ordered to be constructed throughout the five Northeastern provinces as well.

The commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army is on a field trip today to oversee the effort and plans at all locations to check on progress being made.

As a result of the worsening drought situation, the director of the Lamtakong Operation and Maintenance Project in Nakhon Ratchasima province has been forced to make an announcement forbidding residents from blocking, damming or shutting of water supplies for personal use.

The announcement also forbids pumping water for use in off-season (dry season) rice farming because such action could further deplete water supplies that are required for tap water production.

The director stated that at present, water stocks in its dam have dropped to only 97.1 million cubic meters.

The Lamtakong Dam has a maximum capacity of 314.49 million cubic meters.

In Baan Khok Petch village of Buriram, severe drought situation has left more than 70 households without daily water supplies.

Many villagers here have been forced to drill artesian wells to get to subterranean water supplies which they then store for future use while others without the means to drill have been forced to buy water off merchants.

These villagers are pleading for official intervention to help them in their hour of need.

Meanwhile more than 2,300 households located within Khao Jed Luk district in Phichit province area are facing severe water shortage and short of drinking water.

The situation is so bad that the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation has been forced to order water supplies to be transported to these villagers to supplement their daily needs.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/drought-to-get-worst-this-year

-- Thai PBS 2016-01-14

[HenryB]

This is problem only for expats.

Thais are strong moral people who do not need water as much as expats

Edited January 14, 2016 by HenryB

[Thian]

This is problem only for expats.

Thais are strong moral people who do not need water as much as expats

I bet that the expats who have nice swimmingpools upcountry don't agree with you.

[cyberfarang]

Which regions exactly?

[HenryB]

This is problem only for expats.

Thais are strong moral people who do not need water as much as expats

I bet that the expats who have nice swimmingpools upcountry don't agree with you.

If these expats do not have a black heart they will let the whole village use the pool for free.

This way they will Thank them for wife and chance to live is such a great place

[djayz]

If the situation doesn't improve between now and Songkran in mid-April, will they prohibit people splashing (read "wasting") millions of liters of water?

[thesetat2013]

If the situation doesn't improve between now and Songkran in mid-April, will they prohibit people splashing (read "wasting") millions of liters of water?

Surely you must be joking! Perhaps they will only ban it in the North hehee

[kannot]

Thailand has ample rainfall.................badly managed and appallingly maintained.

The local waterways by me are de weeded with a makro as they leave them so long, this in turn breaks the concrete sides which goes un-repaired for years at a time wasting lots of water.

[Felt 35]

This is problem only for expats.

Thais are strong moral people who do not need water as much as expats

That was also what I said to my Thai neighbors in Europe to Christmas when the temperature fall to minus 18C and the following days got 80cm with snow, only a problem for the expats from the Southern Hemisphere.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Dams look to be at normal levels for this time of the year.

http://www.thaiwater.net/web/index.php/en.html

[pinkpanther99]

This is now at crisis point.

Only this morning all residents on our development were told the communal pool will be closed for the next week as there is not enough water to fill it :-(

[soalbundy]

All this talk of dam's, my water comes from the tap and drinking water from cisterns,get modern you lot,dams are so 19th century

[menzies233]

Dams look to be at normal levels for this time of the year.

http://www.thaiwater.net/web/index.php/en.html

You have to be kidding right? The rivers are almost dry in the North, this has to be the driest year in 15 or more years that I have lived here.

This year is going to be a real problem for Thais, this has been warned of since early last year, but mocked and ignored. Just wait til they try growing rice with no water.

[alant]

I am still seeing rice being grown, fields being flooded. Warnings falling on deaf ears.

[max72]

Dams look to be at normal levels for this time of the year.

http://www.thaiwater.net/web/index.php/en.html

You have to be kidding right? The rivers are almost dry in the North, this has to be the driest year in 15 or more years that I have lived here.

This year is going to be a real problem for Thais, this has been warned of since early last year, but mocked and ignored. Just wait til they try growing rice with no water.

Actually, since the 1998 previous Nino strong.

This is "normal" during strong Ninos like 1941,1952/1958,1973,1983,1998.

Last rainy season was below normal in most of Thailand (except downtown Bangkok, but that was due to 2-3 tremendous t-storms which flooded the city with 1 month rain in 1 day, not very helpful indeed) and if the incoming rainy season will also be below normal , farmers are going to get in serious trouble and than all the population.

A Nina (cooler climate and more rainfall in this area) is only expected to develop (maybe) by year end, so the effect of the Nino -which is peaking now- might drag into the next monsoon season and that would be serious. Regarding the dry season, well, it hardly ever makes a difference, it's already dry, 50mm or 100m in 1 month does' t change much. It's the rainy season amounts of rain which make the difference.

[Loaded]

stop watering the golf courses

[siliconvalley]

Wow.

In our village, out of 100 rai, there is 1 rai growing 2nd rice.

When I asked my wife, her response was.....The village will get mad.....

Now how does this solve anything? Zero.

No one does a thing.

Last year I posted, that a family dumped their chemically saturated rice water into the community lake. This is when I noticed then my 1 year old daughter after a bath was filled with red spots similiar to measels resulting from the high nitrates in the water.

Again, yelling yo my wife the water situation, the wife had the same SOP response.

Meaning, no one gives a f.

[ratcatcher]

I am still seeing rice being grown, fields being flooded. Warnings falling on deaf ears.

But you fail to state where in Thailand.

[mango66]

This is problem only for expats.

Thais are strong moral people who do not need water as much as expats

I dont think for expats,

expats can survive with beer,

But Thais will need obligatory 2 -3 showers per day !!

and wash clothes every day obligatory,

and when washing dishes or cloths - the water must run out of the tub permanently !

This is the min. obligatory use of tub water for a tahai !!

[springheeled jack]

I have posted about this subject on quite a few occasions I still think ground water wells and desalination plants are the solution to this problem and in my opinion people have had sufficient time to address the problem .

[mango66]

US congleramates have already started with research for rice-crops -

which can grow without water ;

[PETERTHEEATER]

US congleramates have already started with research for rice-crops -

which can grow without water ;

Do you honestly think any plant can grow without water? Even desert plants need some water.

Or, do you mean research into strains of rice which do not have to be grown in standing water (flooded fields)?

[Xonax]

There are more than enough water in the oceans, which can be desalinated into water usable for growing rice or even for drinking. So far it is more expensive to desalinate water, but there should be done some heavy research in this field, as we will have to depend on ocean water in the future.

[zappalot]

farmers are going to get in serious trouble

These thai farmers refuse for many years to change their planting habits. Could save them not only water but also lots of money for fertilizer and pesticides.

They should look to Vietnam or also India. They changed due to the climate change. They have to adapt or the will suffer.

I wonder why the government does not do anything to educate them...

[wabothai]

Cancel railcontracts and other unnecessary contracts like purchasing tanks.

If authorities are able to construct oil and gas pipelines almost across the globe, certainly it will be possible to build a pipeline to the northern snowfields.

In the times there were heavy droughts in California a pipeline was built from the Sierras to San Francisco.

First there must be a will. If there is not sufficient rain in 2 years Thailand will be dead.

Prajuth and his generals will have to look over their shoulders every minute. And madame TAT will be out of a job.

[tigermonkey]

They are drilling "artesian wells" ? If this is true, why do all the new deep bore wells now being drilled, require pumps to bring the water to the surface ? I doubt there is any artesian element to these new wells - they are drilled down to the water table and then the water is pumped up

Edited January 14, 2016 by tigermonkey

[kannot]

I am still seeing rice being grown, fields being flooded. Warnings falling on deaf ears.

Yes STUPIDLY down by me in Pranburi one of the driest parts of Thailand where they normally grow pineapples there are some idiots growing rice.............un<deleted>beleeeevable.................I got tired with there being no water here for weeks on end, drilled my own 85 metre deep wells and leave the winkers to get on with their local black coloured shitfilled water supply

[kannot]

This is problem only for expats.

Thais are strong moral people who do not need water as much as expats

I dont think for expats,

expats can survive with beer,

But Thais will need obligatory 2 -3 showers per day !!

and wash clothes every day obligatory,

and when washing dishes or cloths - the water must run out of the tub permanently !

This is the min. obligatory use of tub water for a tahai !!

by me its a tub full of water an old saucepan and thats the water shower system, wasteful for sure.

[blueyeshk]

https://vimeo.com/151150793

All you need to know

[Sparkles]

stop watering the golf courses

Should be compusory for golf courses to have their own bores sunk and not where it adversley affects the water table.