You would think the scale of the problem warrants an executive level government emergency taskforce, with the right brief and significant power to act, that is composed of a few government officials from relevant ministry's, engineering and other experts/technocrats reporting directly to the PM. I hate the way things get done here .... acting after the horse has left the barn, complete lack of coordinated action, one off piecemeal actions with no overall coordinating strategy and plan (like digging wells in a seriously depleted water table). It's already late but it's going to be a s#*t storm if right action is not taken.

Well 2 days ago there were 3 small lakes behind my house,then a team of guys and a excavator turned up,and dug channels then put a pump in and pumped all the water about half a kilometer to about 20 rai of rice fields and flooded them to plant the rice,i dont know were there going to get the next lot of water from as theres no more lakes nearby and absolutely no water in any of the small rivers here there all dry in this part of chiang mai, going to be interesting watching this.

Edited January 19, 201610 yr by lee68

Last year they said 50,000 water wells were to be drilled, did any get done.

Thought not.

So what is this years empty promise?

You managed to answer your own question without actually looking for any results.

Have you done any research on the subject, looked around the area where you live and asked anybody, checked with anybody else on the forum?

Perhaps that doesn't fit in with the way you complain about the government.

Try looking here

http://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-drought-idUSL8N1532E7

Also read post #27 of this thread.

Edited January 19, 201610 yr by billd766

Good news was it rained today in Bangkok. More optimism needed and it might not be so bad.

Plenty of rice in storage, thanks Yingluck.

Stupid off-topic comment.......

Edited January 19, 201610 yr by bill1369

"Well 2 days ago there were 3 small lakes behind my house..."

As someone who lives in a country with the largest fresh water lakes in the world, I'll have to agree those lakes were "small".

In fact, we call them "ponds". They're often used in agricultural areas for irrigation.

Congratulations!

You live near some smart (or rich) Thai farmers, 555

Wouldn't the solution be more, larger irrigation ponds?

88 inches of rain per year. Where I live the (Native) Americans "dry-farmed" corn, beans and other crops on less than 12 inches a year.

Surely, modern day Thais are smart enough to create dams and reservoirs for drought periods....????

What happen to creating rain ???

Mango Bob, are you in the central part of Thailand? I was up to Kamphaeng Phet 2 years ago

and it was rainy then, I can certainly see why they need the water in that province.

Good luck to all farmers and people growing fruit and vegetable for them selves in

Thailand.

"Well 2 days ago there were 3 small lakes behind my house..."

As someone who lives in a country with the largest fresh water lakes in the world, I'll have to agree those lakes were "small".

In fact, we call them "ponds". They're often used in agricultural areas for irrigation.

Congratulations!

You live near some smart (or rich) Thai farmers, 555

Wouldn't the solution be more, larger irrigation ponds?

88 inches of rain per year. Where I live the (Native) Americans "dry-farmed" corn, beans and other crops on less than 12 inches a year.

Surely, modern day Thais are smart enough to create dams and reservoirs for drought periods....????

Really,they are only just starting to grasp how to operate motor vehicles with varying degrees of success.