17 provinces now declared areas hardest hit by drought



BANGKOK: -- The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation disclosed today that a total of 17 provinces, comprising 67 districts, 305 Tambon, and 2,576 villages have been declared areas critically affected by drought and needed emergent assistance from the state.

These critically drought hit areas included six northern provinces, namely Chiang Mai, Uttaradit, Phayao, Sukhothai, Nakhon Sawan and Nan.

Five northeastern provinces, namely Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Phanom, Maha Sarakham, Buriram and Surin.

Three central provinces, namely Kanchanaburi, Phetchaburi, and Chai Nat.

Three eastern provinces, namely Sa Kaew, Chanthaburi, and Chonburi.

Authorities are assessing the seriousness of the situation and working out zoning so that assistance could be channeled to affected areas and meet their needs.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/156207


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-22

Well, let's see, I'm in Chiang Mai, and live in one of the areas they said the water will be turned off from 7 am to 9 pm today. That's not good.

Don't worry!, the Government says there will be no water shortage in Thailand ,too many times,

and you HAVE to believe them ....right,Songkran is going ahead,so no problem.

regards Worgeordie

Well, let's see, I'm in Chiang Mai, and live in one of the areas they said the water will be turned off from 7 am to 9 pm today. That's not good.

I have lived in Jomtien for 7 years and the water only ever comes at night for a couple of hours.

I think they forgot Khampaeng Phet where the government water supply was OK from mid August until mid December 2015 and hasn't been seen since then or this year at all.

With a bit of luck it may be back by July, or not.

A couple of days ago Udon Thani was mentioned as being in big trouble and was to be visited by the PM to see for himself but now it doesn't even rate a mention.

Did he wave his magic wand or does officialdom not actually know what the full situation is ?

It hit home as to how bad it is when I saw pictures last week of motor cross riders practicing in the dry bed of the Ping River here in Chiang Mai. That was something of a shock.

Well, let's see, I'm in Chiang Mai, and live in one of the areas they said the water will be turned off from 7 am to 9 pm today. That's not good.

My friend lives in an area not on the disaster list and their area has had no water at all for 9 days now.

Does anyone know what eventuated from those two 721 million baht drought-busting projects announced last year? Apart from the obvious, did they actually go ahead?

"so that assistance could be channeled to affected areas and meet their needs."

The government is doing nothing to help, just telling people to follow the self suffiency philosophy and dig a hole.

Does anyone know what eventuated from those two 721 million baht drought-busting projects announced last year? Apart from the obvious, did they actually go ahead?

No, but Honda received a lot of new orders.

dry as a bone here in Hua Hin.

This time last year rain about every ten days but nothing now. no toads, frogs, salamanders. Very dry brush everywhere.

And horrible air quality with winds from the Northwest bringing in pollution.

At least Thai PBS showed a picture with some water, so Prayuth must be happy.

Well, let's see, I'm in Chiang Mai, and live in one of the areas they said the water will be turned off from 7 am to 9 pm today. That's not good.

I have lived in Jomtien for 7 years and the water only ever comes at night for a couple of hours.

I lived in Jomtien 20 years ago, and for a full 86 days we had not one drop of water, day or night. Following that for another month, there was limited water from 6am to 8am, at a maximum of 50cms above ground level. We had to take off the pipe to the meter, and place a shallow bucket under the pipe, and wait for it to fill before replacing the bucket and taking what water we had inside.

And the PEA had the audacity to charge full standing charges for the period!

Wonder what happened to Udon Thani Province as there was no mention. It hasn't rained in that area for over 3 months and everything is dryer than a Popcorn Fart.

I live in western Bangkok and the soi line water pressure is now so low in my part of town that only late at night does the pressure rise enough to reach the top of my 2 meter tall water storage tank...that means the water pressure is about 3 PSI / 0.2BAR. Normally the pressure is around 8 to 10 PSI / 0.5 to 0.8 BAR. It's that way in my approx 750 house moobaan...people have called the Bangkok Water Authority to complain but the authority just says it's to reduce water usage and hopefully they can increase the pressure back to normal soon...yea, right. Today when checking the pressure based it was approx 1.5 PSI / 0.1 BAR.

For the last 4 days or so we have had to pump directly from the soi lines versus letting it go to the tank first and then sucking from the tank. We have one way backflow values to ensure water don't flow back into the soi line.

A few days ago when first noticing the problem when my chance I shook my tank a little and noticed it didn't feel full...when I looked inside it was half empty with no incoming water...it's a 850L tank...normally it stays full when the soi water line pressure is normal. I actually had to refill the tank by putting a hose into the top and letting the water pump fill it up that way since the soi line water pressure was two low to reach the 2M height of the tank. That same day moobaan management and security were driving around telling everyone about the problem and to suck from the soi lines directly if their setup allows it (mine does..from the soi, from the tank, or from both at the same time) and/or fill up your tank by pumping water into them like I did. A few neighbors ran out of water/their tanks went dry before figuring out what to do.

Anyway, I don't see the situation getting any better over the next few months. I'm replacing my 850L tank with a 2000L tank this weekend...the tank is suppose to be delivered this Friday. Bought it at Thai Watsadu....the salesman said water storage tanks sales are "very, very good"....many people buying one for the first time or upgrading to a larger tank. I only have enough room for one tank, otherwise I would have just bought a second tank to pair up with the first tank....will pass along the 850L tank to the mother-in-law in a nearby province.

dry as a bone here in Hua Hin.

This time last year rain about every ten days but nothing now. no toads, frogs, salamanders. Very dry brush everywhere.

And horrible air quality with winds from the Northwest bringing in pollution.

Its normal for this time of the year to been bone dry.What is not normal is the rise in temp due to the El Nino effect which had been predicted long ago.

Last rainy season in Chiang Mai and many provinces was the lowest rainfall for decades.

The Gov is totally unprepared for these condtions or they would cancel Songkran in the nations interest.

Soon the politicians will be out with public praying to the rain gods,trust me.

Well, let's see, I'm in Chiang Mai, and live in one of the areas they said the water will be turned off from 7 am to 9 pm today. That's not good.

I live in sanameng and they turned ours off this morning until 5 pm,never told us,thankfully i have a 2000LT tank.

A couple of days ago Udon Thani was mentioned as being in big trouble and was to be visited by the PM to see for himself but now it doesn't even rate a mention.

Did he wave his magic wand or does officialdom not actually know what the full situation is ?

If the PM visited, it will be OK now. He will probably have URGED some rain to fall. Did you not notice the difference after his visit? Some superhuman figures walk on water, this one walks on dry land and makes water. he is full of _ _ _ _.