Thailand hit by its worst drought in decades

[webfact]

Thailand hit by its worst drought in decades
Everton Fox

Thai dams run low as an El Nino-induced water shortage reduces reservoirs to critical levels.

BANGKOK: -- Thailand is in the grip of its worst drought for more than 20 years, with water levels in the country's biggest dams lower than 10 percent.

The current drought has hit the north hardest, with 22 of Thailand's 76 provinces affected.

Agriculture has been severely affected, and there are genuine fears that taps could run dry within a matter of weeks. Several major reservoirs in the country are below 50 percent of their water capacity.

Full story: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/03/thailand-hit-worst-drought-decades-160330102123735.html

-- AL JAZEERA 2016-03-31

[thesetat2013]

Don't panic. The Junta said we will have enough water to throw away for Songkran and it will last until July. Now! Should the rainy season begin later than July? Well I am sure the gov will still be saying it's going to be OK and not to worry.

[BuckBee]

What drought !

Sounds like irresponsible reporting to me & trying make bad feeling towards the government & ruin the happy happy roadmap :-)

Get out while you can still wash your clothes clean for packing ...

[ezzra]

And what is the government doing about it? nothing! dig more artesian wells, futile rainmaking efforts,

changing crops, all waste of time, somehow, the government thing that water supply will there for ever

and thus let nature do it's job, how wrong they're, the world is getting dryer and dryer, temperatures are

rising and water become a scarce commodity.... an overhauling of water's management system and

looking at desalinations plants is an urgent order of the day, otherwise, it might too late in years to come......

[lujanit]

The Government is pumping megalires from the Mekong. Let's hope Cambodia and Vietnam are okay with this. The world is not getting dryer and dryer. The amount of water has always remained the same. It resides in different forms. Ice, artesian, lakes etc. Now it is returning to the sea. Global warming is a natural phenomena albeit humans may have accelerated the process.

[jaltsc]

"Thailand is in the grip of its worst drought for more than 20 years..."

However, the farmers and hill people living in the mountains of the north see this a blessing, and a message from Buddha to keep burning; early and often.

[canuckamuck]

It was completely obvious that last years rainfall was insufficient. Yet only lip service was paid to the predicted drought. Farmers still put in off season rice, and there were no real restriction put on water use.

Who voted for these guys anyway?

[Reigntax]

But only hours ago the rainmaking squad was being congratulated for being so sucessful.

Has all the ministers hot air evaporated it already?

[Laughing Gravy]

So for the last few weeks the government was saying there is no drought. Does that mean we were all mislead! Shameful. Get another poll out that says 99% of people don't believe there will be a drought.

[alant]

El Nino, that is what is to blame. Nothing to do with multi crop farming

[kaptainrob]

A study of data shows Bhumibol dam approaching zero output by early May with Sirikit running out by end of May. The next 2 months of extreme heat sees accelerated evaporation due to low levels and dozens of other dams will cease outflow unless significant early rain occurs.

[maewang99]

The thing about this, the El Nino, is that each time there are more significant effects and acceleratingly so. I really believe I have my feet on the ground and can still say that anyone with a good chance of still being around in 7 years here should already begin to at least think about serious plans for worse. In the North, such as being ready to evacuate for a lengthy time, especially anyone fire exposed. The added dryness and temperatures have an exponential fire effect, as we have learned in California. I don't just mean staying somewhere else but the whole deal such as if you have to leave for a long time and have security, pet or other such concerns that make that very problematic. And the Thai poo poo this not just because of the Thai perpsective but that they, like everyone, do not really fully accept that Climate Change effects are accelerating... it is not a slow linear thing at all anymore. And we are over the edge. But that's another thing, but this fire and smoke issue is already very real. Imagine adding even more significant fire smoke to this?

[NongKhaiKid]

Tell the public there's not enough water for Songkran and standby for real concern.

[Kabula]

Time to consider emergency storable drinking water in some dry areas.

[jaltsc]

Tell the public there's not enough water for Songkran and standby for real concern.

Use the existing water to make beer or to celebrate Songkran? What would all the drunkards do if they showed up for Songkran and there was no water? What a dilemma.Pretty hard to have one without the other.

The first real crisis facing the government.

[Crossy]

Bucketing down here in central BKK.

[tuanku]

A study of data shows Bhumibol dam approaching zero output by early May with Sirikit running out by end of May. The next 2 months of extreme heat sees accelerated evaporation due to low levels and dozens of other dams will cease outflow unless significant early rain occurs.

Must be bad if even those two auspiciously named dams cannot help. Is it really the end of an era?

[gandalf12]

And what is the government doing about it? nothing! dig more artesian wells, futile rainmaking efforts,

changing crops, all waste of time, somehow, the government thing that water supply will there for ever

and thus let nature do it's job, how wrong they're, the world is getting dryer and dryer, temperatures are

rising and water become a scarce commodity.... an overhauling of water's management system and

looking at desalinations plants is an urgent order of the day, otherwise, it might too late in years to come......

Overhauling the water management system? Before they can do that they need a water management system

[khun custard]

Seems to be quite localized from what we saw on our travels last week -

Last Thursday in Nakon Sawan 40 degrees in the late afternoon and the landscape as dry as a bone

Friday Petchabun to Sarburi, warm but apart from deciduous trees being bare, all seemed reasonable green and the road side lakes were near full

Sunday in Pattaya - took 1 hour to get from Makro (U turn) to the Klang as the basin near Pattaya Thai was 50cm under with flash flooding

[Calach]

Looks like the drought isn't hitting Bangkok much.

[Hawk]

"Thailand hit by its worst drought in decades"

Does the PM know about this? Or is this just more irresponsible foreign media nonsense? Another news agency on the blacklist!

[Pib]

I live in western Bangkok and the soi water main/line pressure was so low last week (lowered by the govt to save water) the pressure was so low (around 1.5 PSI) it could not reach 2 meters high to go into my 850L water storage tank...normally, in better times the pressure was around 10 PSI. Fortunately the soi main line did not run out of water (just really low pressure) and a person could still suck directly from the soi main 24 hrs/day...feed their water pump directly from the soi water main versus having it come preferably from the water storage tank. I refilled the tank by using a water hose. The soi main water pressure has improved since last week supposedly due to a ton of complaints directed at the local water authority, but I know the problem will return.

Anyway, I don't see the water situation getting any better this year or probably next...so this weekend I replaced my 850L stainless steel water tank that came with the house with a 2,000L polymer water tank to give me more days of water when the soi main water supply is empty/too low in pressure due to whatever reason (i.., govt lowering water pressure to save water, water main break/maintenance, just no water, etc). And I also installed a separate PVC line with valve which allows me to refill the tank using the pump with a flip of a value versus me running a water hose into the top of the tank. I have been thinking about does this for months due to the drought/moobaan water situation.

Over the last month while scoping-out water tanks at places such as Thai Watsadu and Global House which have a hug selection of tanks and places like Homepro and mom-and-pop stores which have a much smaller selection, it became very obvious to me the wide range in prices for the same sized tanks depending on their constructions (i.e, stainless steel or polymer, thickness of steel/polymer, food grade or not, anti-algae or not, anti-bacteria or not, etc).

Stainless steel tanks are definitely much more expensive than polymer tanks of same size....and polymer tanks come with a wide range of specs. And the number of polymer tanks far, far outnumbered the number of stainless steel models. I expect significantly higher price of stainless steel tanks and the recent advances in polymer tanks have greatly lowered stainless steel sales volume because stores stock what sells. The more expensive polymer tanks (but still cheaper than stainless steel) which will include UV-protection, anti-algae, and anti-bacteria construction specs. Looks for one that includes "silver nano, nano silver titanium or similar wording" which means it has anti-bacteria specs and the other specs will automatically fall in place like being of food grade, having anti-algae capability, UV-protection, a good 20 to 25 year warranty. Seems the anti-bacteria/silver nano specs is only in the better quality polymer tanks. Plenty of tanks don't have this silver nano capability but they are still fine for general water storage...just not the best as your primary household water tank.

I ended up buying and installing myself a Aqualine LLDPE tank (a type of polymer) 2,000L tank as it was the biggest I could install in spot I have my tank and water pump ...the tank had all the right specs to include anti-bacteria capability with the internal nano silver coating. Cost at Thai Watsadu with free delivery was Bt12,800. I'm now a little better prepared for the drought/water shortage.

[happy chappie]

I'm just outside udon Thani and forgot what rain is.ive stopped using watering the grass as it don't do nothing,I'm going to gravel up large parts of it and sell the lawn mower,my swimming pool is disappearing daily.does anyone know how deep they can drill for a well as my 100 footer is running low.

[wabothai]

If the dammed lakes are pretty much empty, where is the electricity coming from ????

[Mister Fixit]

Bucketing down here in central BKK.

And in Nonthaburi- for 20 minutes. Hardly going to fill a reservoir.

[cyberfarang]

22 of Thailand's 76 provinces affected. Which 22 of 76 of Thailand's 76 provinces affected?

[Nokyai]

I hope they are using this opportunity of low or empty dams for maintenance or digging out the silt brought in by the rivers which will increase their capacity for future years......but then again that's too sensible TIT

[dontejo]

We live not to far from Chayaphum. We have no water here for 8 days and there is still nobody in this village who can tell us when there is water again!

[kaptainrob]

If the dammed lakes are pretty much empty, where is the electricity coming from ????

Hydro-electric power provides just ~2% of total requirements.

[kaptainrob]

22 of Thailand's 76 provinces affected. Which 22 of 76 of Thailand's 76 provinces affected?

Mainly central and eastern provinces except for Petchabun. This map is from a risk assessment study and gives a fair idea.

The Chao Praya river area is most at risk and being a major agricultural region particularly worrying if farmers continue planting. Isaan is less affected and Bangkok and southern provinces receives far more rainfall generated by ocean weather systems.