Thailand hit by its worst drought in decades

[Khon Kaen Dave]

sorry to disappoint,but you wouldn't know there is a drought here,business as usual. We've not had any warnings or notices dropped in our post boxes.Farmers are still sprinkling.No rush to buy water at Lotus,in fact there's huge piles of drinking water stacked up outside.I'm only happy its not a Red Horse drought,that's what i'm scared of.We are only 60 kliks from Udon and they seem to be suffering,last i heard.

Ok! that's it,I'm ff to wash the car!

[DM07]

...but...but...but...cloudseeding...!

[billd766]

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......

Just to put the other side of the story.

What did previous governments do going back 20 or 30 years? Absolutely nothing apart from the previous elected government whose Minister of Agriculture, not content with keeping as much water in the dams for rice farmers to grow every grain of rice they could, and by doing so caused the biggest floods in the country for years.

And still not content with causing that much damage he ignored all advice and ordered the dams to be drained down below the safe level so there would be no floods. He was correct in that there were no floods but instead we have the worst drought in decades.

YOU however blame the current government of doing nothing whilst ignoring the steps taken to get the country into this position.

Desalination plants work in small countries with small populations but are incredibly costly to build and run, not to mention the amounts of pipework required to get the water to where it is really needed which is hundreds of km away from the sea. Also don't forget the extra power stations required to supply the power for the system.

[kaptainrob]

If Aussies cant get a Desal plant to work what hope would Thailand have?

Water management and conservation coupled with advanced weather modelling is paramount. Increased height of dams and an increase of existing capacity will help.

[billd766]

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!

I live next to the Mae Wong national park in Khampaeng Phet province and we have had no government water since the middle of December last year and looking back to 2015 I am not expecting any until August.

[Crossy]

Bucketing down here in central BKK.

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

Wrong side of the dams too

[freedom4life]

More irresponsible reporting to effectively spread fear and institute more regulations...sick...you crims.

[JohnDodd]

Just drove from KK to Pattya and back, the whole distance the country side looked scorched and arid, the only water I saw was in the valleys between Korat and Kabinburi. And a 10 vehicle pileup with the remains of pickup that caused the Acc. was unrecognizable as a vehicle, a few pieces's of metal and 4 overturned 10 wheeler's that took 3 hours to clear...lesson learned, life in KK far superior to aimlessly wandering around deserted bars, in each one I passed sat some lonely farang with the thousand yard stare, really glad I had my Wife and Daughter(18) with me, creepy place.

[elgordo38]

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.

They still have cloud seeding in reserve. Yes do not worry they have a plan.

[elgordo38]

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 of the water management system costs money ezzra and they abhor spending it. The priority is military spending so they can play soldier. Soldiers and the regular populous are of a different mindset.

[gandalf12]

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

Let me light candle and I will tell you

[gandalf12]

Instead of spending money on a high speed rail link that will only last a short time, wouldn't that money be better spent on essentials projects like Water and Electricity?

[slipperylobster]

Perhaps the present "government" sees this as an ominous omen, as they are increasing their powers of arrest..possibly in preparation for an unhappy bunch of farmers.

[torpedo1970]

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.

This would require national strategic forward planning. Not something I associate with Thainess.

Non-Chinese Thai water management - "Have water - Spend water. No Have water - Borrow water"

[Travel2003]

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

El Nino, is blamed every year.

Al Queda and ISIS try to claim responsibility for everything all the time.

[Baerboxer]

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

"El Nino" - Bloody foreigner!

[PETERTHEEATER]

.......... 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.

An illegal practice in the eyes of the Water Authorities. Direct supply by mains pressure or indirect via water tank gravity of pumped distribution is authorised. Sucking from the main........But, if needs must I know what I would do.......

[Travel2003]

Raining in KKC now.

:-)

[billd766]

This afternoon we were on the edge of a thunderstorm and there were high winds and a lot of heavy rain but only for 15 minutes and the bad news is that somewhere down the power line a 3 phase and a single phase transformer tripped out so we had no power for 3 hours either.

Thailand, you either love it or hate it and sometimes both at the same time.

[anotheruser]

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

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

Laos