How Bad Is This Water Crisis Going To Get?

[blackcab]

There has been no water supply in parts of rural Khampaeng Phet for months now and the 2 fire truck from the tessaban are out 8 hours a day 5 days a week and are having trouble just keeping up. The last delivery we had was over 3 weeks ago.

I have 20 ongs cross connected and 7 as spare for the tanker to pump into. They each hold about 1,500 usable litres and I am now down to the last 6.

Originally my wife and family laughed at the "stupid farang" for having so many ongs, but not anymore.

Lol.... as far back as 9 months ago I was warning the local farang population via our local facebook community page, and I was mocked and laughed at by some of them as a 'doom monger' and with comments like 'the sky is falling, the sky is falling'..... Now all you get on there is people having water problems.... Now they are not taking the pi$$. So it is not just limited to Thais.

You are the anti-Noah.

[speedtripler]

I observed this morning a water truck delivering water to a neighbour, a girl came out from across the street and begged the water truck driver to fill here 1000L tank, which he reluctantly agreed.

Later just before darkness fell, I watched said girl for 20 minutes watering her garden... She was very lucky to get that water in the first place and she may not be so lucky when she runs out again.

Some people never learn.

too stupid to be helped ........

[speedtripler]

Hope this problem will not reach Bangkok

in bkk hi-so cars will be washed and golf courses will be watered

dont get it twisted

[billd766]

Best solution might be to have a temporary five fold increase in the cost of tap water. That might make people think twice about wasting it for nothing.

Yeah, that way the poor will all be punished while the rich get all the water they want. It also has the added benefit of providing the government with with extra revenue they can flush down the new low-flow toilets they got a big kick-back for mandating.

I don't think the issue is that someone flushes their toilet every time the take a leak, but rather farmers flood-irrigating.

I agree with you about the price rise with the caveat that if prices go up they rarely go back down and never to the same level as before.

As for the toilet issue.

If you pee 250 ml which is nearly half a pint and flush it away with 5 litres that is 20 times the amount of water. Consider 4 people doing the same thing each 5 times a day and that comes to 100 litres of water per household per day.

Multiply that by 5,000,000 households per day just in the cities of Thailand and you end up with 500,000,000 litres of water a day just being flushed away.

[chiang mai]

My local car wash is still open and doing a brisk trade, I would have thought that would be a prime target for suspension of business, under the circumstances.

[mogandave]

Best solution might be to have a temporary five fold increase in the cost of tap water. That might make people think twice about wasting it for nothing.

Yeah, that way the poor will all be punished while the rich get all the water they want. It also has the added benefit of providing the government with with extra revenue they can flush down the new low-flow toilets they got a big kick-back for mandating.

I don't think the issue is that someone flushes their toilet every time the take a leak, but rather farmers flood-irrigating.

I agree with you about the price rise with the caveat that if prices go up they rarely go back down and never to the same level as before.

As for the toilet issue.

If you pee 250 ml which is nearly half a pint and flush it away with 5 litres that is 20 times the amount of water. Consider 4 people doing the same thing each 5 times a day and that comes to 100 litres of water per household per day.

Multiply that by 5,000,000 households per day just in the cities of Thailand and you end up with 500,000,000 litres of water a day just being flushed away.

500,000,000 liters is roughly 400 acre feet which is not much when it comes to irrigation.

And to be fair, most tank-toilets use 1.5-2.5 liters per flush.

I'm all for conserving water, but what people can actually do needs to be put into perspective.

[billd766]

Best solution might be to have a temporary five fold increase in the cost of tap water. That might make people think twice about wasting it for nothing.

Yeah, that way the poor will all be punished while the rich get all the water they want. It also has the added benefit of providing the government with with extra revenue they can flush down the new low-flow toilets they got a big kick-back for mandating.

I don't think the issue is that someone flushes their toilet every time the take a leak, but rather farmers flood-irrigating.

I agree with you about the price rise with the caveat that if prices go up they rarely go back down and never to the same level as before.

As for the toilet issue.

If you pee 250 ml which is nearly half a pint and flush it away with 5 litres that is 20 times the amount of water. Consider 4 people doing the same thing each 5 times a day and that comes to 100 litres of water per household per day.

Multiply that by 5,000,000 households per day just in the cities of Thailand and you end up with 500,000,000 litres of water a day just being flushed away.

500,000,000 liters is roughly 400 acre feet which is not much when it comes to irrigation.

And to be fair, most tank-toilets use 1.5-2.5 liters per flush.

I'm all for conserving water, but what people can actually do needs to be put into perspective.

It is actually 500,000 cubic metres of water per day.

It is a conservative estimate based on only 4 people per household and 5,000,000 households in Thailand.

The population of Thailand is close to 70,000,000 and I based my figures on only 20,000,000 people.

That figure does not take into account anything else such as showers, baths (some people still use them), laundry, washing up and any other household usage most of which never gets recycled.

I wish that when we built our house out here in rural Thailand 13 years ago I had thought about saving waste water and recycling it for use around the garden etc, but it wont happen now, unless I get the foundations of the house dug up to find where the waste, but not toilet water goes.

I know that the toilet waste goes into the septic tank but where the surplus water from that goes I have no idea.

[kannot]

Irresponsible watering on trees ie wasting loads and loads with a hosepipe when a sprinkler aimed at the base of the plant would do it better using less water, also water at night only so less evaporation..................swat I do anyway

Is Hua Hin water Park closed yet?I saw them doing some ruddy chanting outside as I drove past yesterday...maybe praying for rain...........funny,waste of time.

[billd766]

Irresponsible watering on trees ie wasting loads and loads with a hosepipe when a sprinkler aimed at the base of the plant would do it better using less water, also water at night only so less evaporation..................swat I do anyway

Is Hua Hin water Park closed yet?I saw them doing some ruddy chanting outside as I drove past yesterday...maybe praying for rain...........funny,waste of time.

Our garden and trees only get watered when it rains apart from my wife's small 20 sq/mt fruit and veg patch and that only gets watered in the evening by a plastic water bowl.

So far this year I have had 5 or 6 trees die for lack of irrigation.

[55Jay]

Our toilets aren't the water saver types, so sure, I put a few stones in the tank to help reduce refill quantity, and we practice the yellow/brown protocol, Navy showers, dish washing/sink excess retained and poured on the plants on the kitchen patio.... etc...

Tinkering with one toilet a few months ago to fix a running/leak problem, also discovered accidentally, that turning the screw where the float ball links to the vertical stand, limits the upward travel motion of the ball. Now the ball reaches fill height and shuts off refill water about 1/2 tank full. Magic! I suppose most everyone knew that already, just that living outside the city has forced me to fiddle around with things on me own now. Used to just call the Indian watchman cum maintenance man, who would appear moments later with a small hammer, 2 Filipino pilots, a screw driver, and a roll of electrical tape.

[chiang mai]

Perhaps folks should post how much water they use every month, we use 7,000 litres according to our monthly bill, never more.

[mogandave]

500,000,000 liters is roughly 400 acre feet which is not much when it comes to irrigation.

And to be fair, most tank-toilets use 1.5-2.5 liters per flush.

I'm all for conserving water, but what people can actually do needs to be put into perspective.

It is actually 500,000 cubic metres of water per day.

Oh, so it's not 5,000,000 liters, it's really 500,000 cubic meters.

[CHRISTIANa9]

Australia experience once in a 100 years drought follow by 1 in 1000 year drought, yet the dams were more than full the following years, this drought isn't going to last forever, just that it will do more damage before recovering

[55Jay]

<snip>

I know that the toilet waste goes into the septic tank but where the surplus water from that goes I have no idea.

Bild - our place is typical u/c build wrt gray water. One house is just a small blue pipe that dribbles off into a corner of the property. Our place, the gray water runs into a small concrete box set into the back concrete slab and from there, runs through a pipe all the way out to the street into common drain along the soi - covered by those concrete squares with the two holes in them. Runs along into a pond/klong area at either end of the soi.

[elgordo38]

Australia experience once in a 100 years drought follow by 1 in 1000 year drought, yet the dams were more than full the following years, this drought isn't going to last forever, just that it will do more damage before recovering

Your making a big leap in understanding, dealing with problems and solutions between the two countries.

[CHRISTIANa9]

Australia experience once in a 100 years drought follow by 1 in 1000 year drought, yet the dams were more than full the following years, this drought isn't going to last forever, just that it will do more damage before recovering

Your making a big leap in understanding, dealing with problems and solutions between the two countries.

Ya, and the desalination plant in Melbourne is now mothballed till the next big drought

[billd766]

Perhaps folks should post how much water they use every month, we use 7,000 litres according to our monthly bill, never more.

I haven't had a water bill since November nor water since mid December so no bills.

I have just looked back at my water bills going back to 2010 and I haven't had a yearly water bill for 12 months since before then.

[billd766]

500,000,000 liters is roughly 400 acre feet which is not much when it comes to irrigation.

And to be fair, most tank-toilets use 1.5-2.5 liters per flush.

I'm all for conserving water, but what people can actually do needs to be put into perspective.

It is actually 500,000 cubic metres of water per day.

Oh, so it's not 5,000,000 liters, it's really 500,000 cubic meters.

Just in case you missed it please read my post once again and then work out what 1 cubic metre of water is.

If you need a clue, 1 cubic metre of water is 1,000 litres.

[mogandave]

500,000,000 liters is roughly 400 acre feet which is not much when it comes to irrigation.

And to be fair, most tank-toilets use 1.5-2.5 liters per flush.

I'm all for conserving water, but what people can actually do needs to be put into perspective.

It is actually 500,000 cubic metres of water per day.

Oh, so it's not 5,000,000 liters, it's really 500,000 cubic meters.

Just in case you missed it please read my post once again and then work out what 1 cubic metre of water is.

If you need a clue, 1 cubic metre of water is 1,000 litres.

I was making a joke.

[elgordo38]

Just paid my monthly condo water bill for 2 people 120 bahts for 6 units. This includes 30 for tap water whatever that means.

[Brewster67]

Well 14 days without water and I am seeing people with looks of desperation on their faces,.

We were putting 1000 litres in our tank from our own pickeup, and three people asked us where to get water.... One girl on a motorcycle looked very panicked.

When you start to see panic in the faces, you know nothing good is going to follow.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Brewster67

[jeab1980]

Anyone coming to Thailand has to realise "no one" is going to help you with anything and learn to do or arrange by planning in advance your own supplies.

I have 2 wells cost 150k for both one 85 metres deep one 55 metres deep supply 4000 litres an hour + an 8 metre deep 1 rai lake

Yes its a total farce in a country that receives HUGE amounts of rainfall...........no planning, no brains ,no hope ,stuck in a retarded serf like system of governance.

If your area starts to fall like mine, You will become the water source for your area if you have wells.

Are you able to refuse them?... Or even more importantly are you able to fend off desperate people?

anyone sets foot near my wells will get something between the ears...the only thing so far the village has done is complain about me.................most recent amusingly "I was stealing water" then I put some stone on the rubbish strewn grass verge and cleaned it all up was told " not belong to you" so i thought about covering it back in rubbish and looking like a jungle, then there was the "fixing the road" saga............. "not your job" all can be read about here somewhere...............I wouldnt piss on the villagers even if they were dying of thirst, then there was the guys stealing the fish from our pond...........they said " who are you to deny us poor people the right to eat". then we had someone from the govt out as "someone" said we were cutting down trees on our land??? most odd as no trees............as u can see Im not enamoured to them.

Thankfully Im about 500 metres outside the village of the damned with no neighbours.

LOL to make friends and influence people. Wonder why this farang not liked 55555

[robblok]

Well 14 days without water and I am seeing people with looks of desperation on their faces,.

We were putting 1000 litres in our tank from our own pickeup, and three people asked us where to get water.... One girl on a motorcycle looked very panicked.

When you start to see panic in the faces, you know nothing good is going to follow.

Soon the Thais will go after those foreigners in the little villages who they perceive to steal water. It will fast and ugly.. once the first reports go on Facebook it will be a regular crystal night. All those foreigners living so secluded in those little villages will have scenes like in the living dead to deal with great mobs of Thais will flood them and end their good life. If I were there id make sure I got some serious firepower. I would think a abrahams tank would do.. or a gunship. Nothing less then that will help

(sarcasm alert sorry just thinking your getting a bit alarmist, the DRINKING water is not finished, just normal water its a nuisance not worth to fight over)

[i claudius]

So as Pattaya is the centre of the Thai world , what is going to happen here i wonder

[Stevemercer]

Just paid my monthly condo water bill for 2 people 120 bahts for 6 units. This includes 30 for tap water whatever that means.

Our monthly water bill is about 300 Baht per month in the dry season. That is for 4 people and about 300 square metres of lawn and garden that needs constant watering this time of year.

[mogandave]

Just paid my monthly condo water bill for 2 people 120 bahts for 6 units. This includes 30 for tap water whatever that means.

Our monthly water bill is about 300 Baht per month in the dry season. That is for 4 people and about 300 square metres of lawn and garden that needs constant watering this time of year.

So how much less water would you use if it were 1,500 baht per month?

[Stevemercer]

I would obviously have to use much less if the price of water went up five fold. That would mean no lawn, just a dustbowl for 5 -10 years until I can get some good trees going. In Australia the price of domestic water is excessive. It does not reflect its availability or distribution, but rather governments milk the 'corporations' for cash and use them to raise loans so they don't get recorded as official government debt. Then of course there was the 'drought surcharge' and then the 'desalinisation surcharge', none of which were removed when the crisis ended.

Putting up the price of the water, beyond what is needed for collection and distribution, is just a tax which a government gets addicted to and never removes. In my town in Thailand, the price of water used to half the current rate, but the collection responsibility was shifted to a 'private organisation' last year which doubled the price of the water for everyone, and added a 10% farang tax. My wife soon got rid of the later because she had to pay the bill.

My point is that tripling the cost of water may save water (at the expense of households), but it will not result in better conservation, management and distribution of water at the government level (which is where it is needed most). The money will be skimmed off or go into consolidated revenue for the government to spend as they see fit.

The current price of water reflects the value to collect, store and distribute the water. The biggest users, by far, are agriculture and industry. Domestic/household usage accounts for about 20% total use. Agriculture can't afford to pay more for water and industry will not. Why punish householders who use the least?

[kannot]

Anyone coming to Thailand has to realise "no one" is going to help you with anything and learn to do or arrange by planning in advance your own supplies.

I have 2 wells cost 150k for both one 85 metres deep one 55 metres deep supply 4000 litres an hour + an 8 metre deep 1 rai lake

Yes its a total farce in a country that receives HUGE amounts of rainfall...........no planning, no brains ,no hope ,stuck in a retarded serf like system of governance.

If your area starts to fall like mine, You will become the water source for your area if you have wells.

Are you able to refuse them?... Or even more importantly are you able to fend off desperate people?

anyone sets foot near my wells will get something between the ears...the only thing so far the village has done is complain about me.................most recent amusingly "I was stealing water" then I put some stone on the rubbish strewn grass verge and cleaned it all up was told " not belong to you" so i thought about covering it back in rubbish and looking like a jungle, then there was the "fixing the road" saga............. "not your job" all can be read about here somewhere...............I wouldnt piss on the villagers even if they were dying of thirst, then there was the guys stealing the fish from our pond...........they said " who are you to deny us poor people the right to eat". then we had someone from the govt out as "someone" said we were cutting down trees on our land??? most odd as no trees............as u can see Im not enamoured to them.

Thankfully Im about 500 metres outside the village of the damned with no neighbours.

LOL to make friends and influence people. Wonder why this farang not liked 55555

"Jeab" 0 Likes.............. Dumb "Kannot" 4608 likes

[kannot]

Well 14 days without water and I am seeing people with looks of desperation on their faces,.

We were putting 1000 litres in our tank from our own pickeup, and three people asked us where to get water.... One girl on a motorcycle looked very panicked.

When you start to see panic in the faces, you know nothing good is going to follow.

Soon the Thais will go after those foreigners in the little villages who they perceive to steal water. It will fast and ugly.. once the first reports go on Facebook it will be a regular crystal night. All those foreigners living so secluded in those little villages will have scenes like in the living dead to deal with great mobs of Thais will flood them and end their good life. If I were there id make sure I got some serious firepower. I would think a abrahams tank would do.. or a gunship. Nothing less then that will help

(sarcasm alert sorry just thinking your getting a bit alarmist, the DRINKING water is not finished, just normal water its a nuisance not worth to fight over)

I "did" say it aint stones between the ears

[HooHaa]

Unfortunately its not just Thailand, its happening in many countries, interesting to see how long the El-Nino effects will last but overall they say this happening for years if not decades, soon the water will cost more then the oil and other stuff. I wonder why they don't invest in desalination projects like Israel did in the past.

http://www.aiche.org/chenected/2015/10/saudi-arabia-creates-new-solar-powered-desalination-technology

Some have said that future wars will be fought over water and not oil.

no point in fighting, china already has control over se asias water supply.