Thailand scrambles to drill wells amid drought and water shortages

[geriatrickid]

Agree with others, I don't get how a country that suffers from massive annual flooding also suffers seemingly annual droughts. Why aren't more efforts made to capture and store more of the surface water runoff during the rainy season.

Agreed, an amazing aspect of Thailand. Seems to lurch from drought

to flood to drought ad infinitum . Seems I recall that dams are the

answer. But a huge expense and long term planning that extends

beyond a single government. But to be fair, when the weather turns

extreme it can be hard to regulate. Even America to some degree

suffers from droughts and floods.....

It's all about management, education, competence, responsibility and the courage to take politically difficult positions. Yes, North america has some awful drought conditions, but the management of the crises has prevented a catastrophe. Compare California's management to that of Thailand's. In California;

- When a water conservation directive was imposed, it was enforced. Celebrities were not excused. When Tom Selleck's ranch was caught breaking the conservation requirements he was shamed and paid a heavy price. No one gets way with watering a lawn when they are not supposed to, for long because the citizens report and expect action. In Thailand, the powerful do as they please.

- Farmers who had priority access still were told to cut back and they did. No one forced them. They weren't happy, but they did it because they could see the big picture. The local authorities were fair in their allocations. Not quite the same in Thailand is it?

- No one would waste water needlessly ala Songkran madness. How can people take drought seriously when so much will soon be wasted?

-Set fire to a national forest or burn fields in California and you are severely dealt with. In Thailand, no one cares.

- Reservoir expansion, environmental protection, watershed rehabilitation are practiced in California. Does the government in Thailand know what these things are?

[jamesbrock]

$285 million pledged in February, another $96 million to dig these wells - factoring in the 10-30% lost on all projects such as these to graft and corruption, this drought is proving quite profitable to those in power.

[jerojero]

Rush, rush, scramble, scramble... Including their brains.

[anotheruser]

Too little, too late,its not like this problem just happened yesterday,

its been building for the last 3 years,with less and less rainfall,if the

next rainy season does not deliver,Thailand's going to have BIG problems.

regards Worgeordie

Why not drill wells and deplete the ground water while we are at it? this ensures that there will be sinkholes and massive problems next time.

[dcnx]

Is BKK still going to be under water in a few years?

[Naam]

Is BKK still going to be under water in a few years?

any time from now. that's what i am hearing since the 1970s

[Oziex1]

So what does Jordan think of their rain making, cloud seeding technology now?

[khunyod]

Is BKK still going to be under water in a few years?

any time from now. that's what i am hearing since the 1970s

Since the 1970s? That memory could be from something else... But indeed, Bangkok is sinking (or water levels are rising, or both): https://weather.com/science/environment/news/bangkok-sinking-subsidence-warming-15-years

[trogers]

Agree with others, I don't get how a country that suffers from massive annual flooding also suffers seemingly annual droughts. Why aren't more efforts made to capture and store more of the surface water runoff during the rainy season.

Agreed, an amazing aspect of Thailand. Seems to lurch from drought

to flood to drought ad infinitum . Seems I recall that dams are the

answer. But a huge expense and long term planning that extends

beyond a single government. But to be fair, when the weather turns

extreme it can be hard to regulate. Even America to some degree

suffers from droughts and floods.....

It's all about management, education, competence, responsibility and the courage to take politically difficult positions. Yes, North america has some awful drought conditions, but the management of the crises has prevented a catastrophe. Compare California's management to that of Thailand's. In California;

- When a water conservation directive was imposed, it was enforced. Celebrities were not excused. When Tom Selleck's ranch was caught breaking the conservation requirements he was shamed and paid a heavy price. No one gets way with watering a lawn when they are not supposed to, for long because the citizens report and expect action. In Thailand, the powerful do as they please.

- Farmers who had priority access still were told to cut back and they did. No one forced them. They weren't happy, but they did it because they could see the big picture. The local authorities were fair in their allocations. Not quite the same in Thailand is it?

- No one would waste water needlessly ala Songkran madness. How can people take drought seriously when so much will soon be wasted?

-Set fire to a national forest or burn fields in California and you are severely dealt with. In Thailand, no one cares.

- Reservoir expansion, environmental protection, watershed rehabilitation are practiced in California. Does the government in Thailand know what these things are?

Only two words would explain all the wrong things being done in your list - Malignant Corruption!

[ThaiKneeTim]

Agree with others, I don't get how a country that suffers from massive annual flooding also suffers seemingly annual droughts. Why aren't more efforts made to capture and store more of the surface water runoff during the rainy season.

The UK has the same problem, but it's severely limited with storage problems. Where there is high population there is a major issue with flooding vast areas of land to store water. The way some UK water companies overcome these issues is transporting raw and treated water over great distances from where it is plentiful, such as the Norfolk Broads, to places of high population, such as Essex/East London.

In Thailand the emphasis on water storage and transportation seems mainly to support rice growing, at least from what I've seen here in Central Isaan.

[ThaiKneeTim]

Is BKK still going to be under water in a few years?

any time from now. that's what i am hearing since the 1970s

Since the 1970s? That memory could be from something else... But indeed, Bangkok is sinking (or water levels are rising, or both): https://weather.com/science/environment/news/bangkok-sinking-subsidence-warming-15-years

Same with London, it sits on clay, and with all the underground systems that pump water out of tunnels the clay is drying out, and clay shrinks when it dries out!

We're it not for the Thames Barrier Britain's MP's would have been paddling into the house of Commons at least a couple of times a year.

[KarenBravo]

I'm not expert, but I'm pretty sure you can't just drill your way out of a drought.

surprisingly the water level in my deep well is higher than during other dry seasons when we had ample rain during the rainy season. but don't ask me why.

Yeah......me too. I posted the same as you in the Phuket sub-forum. Weird.

[ThaiKneeTim]

Around here in Central Isaan most people have their own borehole for domestic use, sunk to about 20 metres, so I'm told. If the government are going to sink a borehole it's going to be sizeable, and it will need to be deep, at least 100 metres, to avoid running dry. Poor old homeowners are going to see their borehole run dry as the water table for some considerable distance around the government borehole drops.

I'm planning on having a borehole sunk, I shall insist that they go a few metres deeper than the current water table level.

[Artisi]

Drought? 17 million cubic metres of water per day released by dams in central Thailand to fight saltwater intrusion. See recent news item on unlinkable site regarding MWA.

Would you, with your great knowledge and expertise, advise that water be "saved" and the salt water intrusion ignored ?

What are your qualifications in water supply engineering ?

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that increasing saltwater intrusion (global warming, rising sea level, depleted aquifers) requires increasing water flow from dams to fight it. In a situation of normal water supply, this actually creates a drought situation.

Priorities are clear: coddle the Bangkok urbanites and shift the problem onto the farmers (who will go under with debt) - a political weapon at work, or simply ignorance and neglect.

Water security is a multifaceted problem that needs to be attacked on many fronts. This is not rocket science, but it does take a basic understanding of where water comes from, how it is stored and consumed. We could start with where rain comes from. Try Google and YouTube if you feel a deficit of knowledge there.

Here are basic approaches/areas that need to be tackled and improved, and are entirely within the ability of a functioning government to actually solve (though the fifth item is a bit tricky).

- Reduce demand through changes in consumer behavior, especially urban water consumption. California is a model to learn from. See article titled "Thailand drought time to conserve water is now" on unlinkable site.

- Reduce water waste (this is consumer behavior, but also infrastructure, leaking faucets, pipes, canals, etc.)

- Price water at a steep increase (this affects consumer and industry behavior), but also based on use type (water for food should actually have a higher priority than water for golf courses and car washes)

- Invest in water producing technology (yes, there are a few, such as desalination, and atmospheric water generation, rainwater harvesting). With the great powers of the nation on command, one would expect a bit more.

- Create a viable replacement for the aquifer/saltwater intrusion problem in Bangkok and other vulnerable areas (that will only get worse and sooner or later suffer complete collapse). Development (industrial, housing, etc.) in areas that these vulnerable aquifers are meant to serve should stop immediately without self-sustaining water generation required for each project (yes, that is possible, see technologies noted above, especially awg).

All that is correct but you forgot one very minor consideration, Thai water is different....

[Artisi]

Around here in Central Isaan most people have their own borehole for domestic use, sunk to about 20 metres, so I'm told. If the government are going to sink a borehole it's going to be sizeable, and it will need to be deep, at least 100 metres, to avoid running dry. Poor old homeowners are going to see their borehole run dry as the water table for some considerable distance around the government borehole drops.

I'm planning on having a borehole sunk, I shall insist that they go a few metres deeper than the current water table level.

Bore depth has to be based the aquifer, drawn down under pumping contains and inflow into the well to meet demand, not some whim of what I think is ok. As higher and higher demands are placed on aquifers a more exacting need to understand what is actually happening below groundlevel is needed. Edited April 3, 2016 by Artisi

[Prbkk]

Everyone in my building is trying to save water except one guy who washes his car every 48 hours...hose going full bore. No one says anything to him lest we be hacked to death with a meat cleaver.

[Artisi]

I'm not expert, but I'm pretty sure you can't just drill your way out of a drought.

surprisingly the water level in my deep well is higher than during other dry seasons when we had ample rain during the rainy season. but don't ask me why.

it can depend on what time of the day you check your level of the well , ground conditions and heat/ evaporation can have the effect on water levels,

Absolute nonsense, other than seasonal variations, the only other effect of water table level is draw down due to pumping on the aquifer. Edited April 3, 2016 by Artisi

[ThaiKneeTim]

Around here in Central Isaan most people have their own borehole for domestic use, sunk to about 20 metres, so I'm told. If the government are going to sink a borehole it's going to be sizeable, and it will need to be deep, at least 100 metres, to avoid running dry. Poor old homeowners are going to see their borehole run dry as the water table for some considerable distance around the government borehole drops.

I'm planning on having a borehole sunk, I shall insist that they go a few metres deeper than the current water table level.

Bore depth has to be based the aquifer, drawn down under pumping contains and inflow into the well to meet demand, not some whim of what I think is ok. As higher and higher demands are placed on aquifers a more exacting need to understand what is actually happening below groundlevel is needed.

Which is why I want to allow for draw down should greater demand be placed on the aquifer. A well in which I installed a new pump dried up because local produce growers were pumping from a depth far greater than the well at the old farmhouse of a chap called Arthur Billet.

[trogers]

Everyone in my building is trying to save water except one guy who washes his car every 48 hours...hose going full bore. No one says anything to him lest we be hacked to death with a meat cleaver.

No one says anything because his ego is larger than his car...

[Artisi]

Everyone in my building is trying to save water except one guy who washes his car every 48 hours...hose going full bore. No one says anything to him lest we be hacked to death with a meat cleaver.

No one says anything because his ego is larger than his car...

Complete (or is that incomplete) with tiny weiner syndrome..

[chdailey]

A description of the water table pulled from open literature on the geology and ground water of the Khorat Plateau written by US and Thai government officials in 1958...

WATER TABLE The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation, except where that surface is formed by a bed of clay or other relatively impermeable body. The water table is neither a level nor a stationary surface, but has irregularities related to and comparable to those of the land surface. Its variations in slope and fluctuations in time are caused by such factors as topography, stratigraphy, and structure of the rocks, rate of withdrawal of water, and variations in rainfall. The water table may rise rapidly after a heavy rainfall, then decline gradually owing to discharge of water by evaporation and transpiration and flow from springs and wells. It is evident, therefore, that ground water is a dynamic resource continually being recharged and discharged in response to natural and artificial forces.

[Mosha]

Better if the managers actually learned water management skills. Opening valves because rainy season is did, doesn't quite cut it.

Sent from my SMART_4G_Speedy_5inch using Tapatalk

[Winniedapu]

Hindsight is 20/20 and it seems these guys are a day late and a dollar short. They have known drought was imminent. They raced to build holding tanks at the end of the rainy season then assured everyone that their would be plenty of water, yet, here they are again racing to dig more wells and promising everything will be OK. As long as the farmers keep planting off season rice things will not get better. And it is very hard to believe they can make a statement claiming their will be enough for consumption.

They have known drought was imminent.

They've known since last year that a huge El Nino effect was going to take place this year, and that a severe drought was expected. Prayuth himself announced it last year. Thai preparation and contingency planning at it's very best.

Thank the good Lord Thailand has Prayuth and Prawit. Where would Thais be without them?

Winnie

[billd766]

Hindsight is 20/20 and it seems these guys are a day late and a dollar short. They have known drought was imminent. They raced to build holding tanks at the end of the rainy season then assured everyone that their would be plenty of water, yet, here they are again racing to dig more wells and promising everything will be OK. As long as the farmers keep planting off season rice things will not get better. And it is very hard to believe they can make a statement claiming their will be enough for consumption.

They have known drought was imminent.

They've known since last year that a huge El Nino effect was going to take place this year, and that a severe drought was expected. Prayuth himself announced it last year. Thai preparation and contingency planning at it's very best.

Thank the good Lord Thailand has Prayuth and Prawit. Where would Thais be without them?

Winnie

Worse off. The current state of the drought in Thailand is due to the inaction of governments going back 20 or more years. NONE of them cared or bothered to do anything in the way of long term planning though most governments did what they do best. They talked about it, some governments even put funds up for it , but not one of them ever DID anything productive. Not a red, yellow or green government did a damn thing until this lot inherited it along with El Nino.

They have HAD to do something. Whether it is any good or not we will find out in the coming years.

[Winniedapu]

Hindsight is 20/20 and it seems these guys are a day late and a dollar short. They have known drought was imminent. They raced to build holding tanks at the end of the rainy season then assured everyone that their would be plenty of water, yet, here they are again racing to dig more wells and promising everything will be OK. As long as the farmers keep planting off season rice things will not get better. And it is very hard to believe they can make a statement claiming their will be enough for consumption.

They have known drought was imminent.

They've known since last year that a huge El Nino effect was going to take place this year, and that a severe drought was expected. Prayuth himself announced it last year. Thai preparation and contingency planning at it's very best.

Thank the good Lord Thailand has Prayuth and Prawit. Where would Thais be without them?

Winnie

Worse off. The current state of the drought in Thailand is due to the inaction of governments going back 20 or more years. NONE of them cared or bothered to do anything in the way of long term planning though most governments did what they do best. They talked about it, some governments even put funds up for it , but not one of them ever DID anything productive. Not a red, yellow or green government did a damn thing until this lot inherited it along with El Nino.

They have HAD to do something. Whether it is any good or not we will find out in the coming years.

"Worse off. "

Sure. Obviously.

Winnie