Samui suffering severe water shortage, say officials

[notmyself]

4 hours ago, samuijimmy said:

Last night, there was a good down pour for over an hour in Ban Por, I have heard other areas such as Lamai, Lipa Noi and Nathon are starting to get some rain, perhaps the start of the rainy season is here? That would be good! 

 

Rained on Friday evening for an hour or so in my area of Lamai.

 

 

[Can samui]

4 hours ago, longtom said:

 

And you are sure the didn't use sea water? (genuine question)

Solid question.....not sure.

Dont think they would though....

[samuijimmy]

I heard today that the reservoir in the south west area is about full ... and they are still working on the pipe line from the mainland to help with shortage problems in the future.

Given what seems to be more January weather that is good news, as it would seem most areas have not had prolonged periods of rain or flooding (that I have heard)

Perhaps heavier rain still to come?

 

[ronaldo0]

23 minutes ago, samuijimmy said:

I heard today that the reservoir in the south west area is about full ... and they are still working on the pipe line from the mainland to help with shortage problems in the future.

Given what seems to be more January weather that is good news, as it would seem most areas have not had prolonged periods of rain or flooding (that I have heard)

Perhaps heavier rain still to come?

 

I stay in the south west and can remember the odd half our of rain maybe 3 days in last 4 weeks apart from one day it rained on and off. Still empty i would think.

[samuijimmy]

1 minute ago, ronaldo0 said:

I stay in the south west and can remember the odd half our of rain maybe 3 days in last 4 weeks apart from one day it rained on and off. Still empty i would think.

Not according to my source, who runs around the reservoir just about every morning!  I was surprised when he said it was just about full..

 

But you could pop down and double check, Ronaldo!

[ronaldo0]

32 minutes ago, samuijimmy said:

Not according to my source, who runs around the reservoir just about every morning!  I was surprised when he said it was just about full..

 

But you could pop down and double check, Ronaldo!

I buy my water by truck so full or empty it wont affect me !!  :)

[longtom]

On 11/17/2016 at 10:47 PM, ronaldo0 said:

I stay in the south west and can remember the odd half our of rain maybe 3 days in last 4 weeks apart from one day it rained on and off. Still empty i would think.

 

Much more in the Nathon area.

[isaanpaul]

Take out the badtubes in the hotels,it will save loads of water!

[TheLobster]

On 11/19/2016 at 3:39 PM, isaanpaul said:

Take out the badtubes in the hotels,it will save loads of water!

 

Brilliant idea, let's also remove the tourists who use them, that will save loads of water!

[impulse]

Does the government publish any maps showing the groundwater depth, volume, reservoir thickness, wells, etc?

 

May be handy to figure out how deep to drill the next water well so it's adequate for the long haul.  Also, may assuage some fears about running out of potable groundwater (or warn you when it's time to build a household or neighborhood RO desalination plant -before it becomes an emergency- because they don't spring up overnight)

[cumgranosalum]

10 hours ago, TheLobster said:

 

Brilliant idea, let's also remove the tourists who use them, that will save loads of water!

THat's what you'd think but then you have to qualify that with the amount of baths tourists actually take against the length of time they spend in the showers......it isn't a "no brainer" - in Oz they even had a campaign suggesting people use baths instead of showers to save water........

Tourism is the main industry on Samui and it uses masses of water......in the end it needs to be paid for.

There are aquifers on Samui but what is needed is a unified, holistic policy that goes from the collection through to supply, then consumption and finally disposal of water - problems like this are always much more intense than on any mainland region, but the thai authorities and corruption have allowed unregulated development and no real plan for infrastructure - a recipe for disaster.

[mikebike]

Is the water pipelines from the mainland not finished yet?

[PoorSucker]

2 minutes ago, mikebike said:

Is the water pipelines from the mainland not finished yet?

March is the latest estimate.

[cumgranosalum]

6 minutes ago, mikebike said:

Is the water pipelines from the mainland not finished yet?

Bangkok Post Nov 1

"

 kilometres of the 20km undersea pipeline being built to supply  raw water from Khanom district on the mainland to Koh Samui had been laid.

The PWA had asked the contractor to speed up the work to ensure it was completed on schedule by February next year by also laying the pipeline in the opposite direction from Koh Samui to link up with the pipe from Khanom district.

"We can now announce that Koh Samui will have enough water through to the Songkran Festival next year and beyond.  We can be sure that Samui will not have a water shortage problem over the next 10 years," the PWA governor said."

 

All sounds a bit optimistic to me.

[Boksida]

On 11/27/2016 at 11:07 AM, impulse said:

Does the government publish any maps showing the groundwater depth, volume, reservoir thickness, wells, etc?

 

May be handy to figure out how deep to drill the next water well so it's adequate for the long haul.  Also, may assuage some fears about running out of potable groundwater (or warn you when it's time to build a household or neighborhood RO desalination plant -before it becomes an emergency- because they don't spring up overnight)

Full details of wells drilled by the Department of Groundwater Resources are on the net. You will need to be able to read Thai and can search by Changwat, Amphur and Tambon. The database will show drilled depths, yields, water levels etc.

Try this:

http://app.dgr.go.th/newpasutara/xml/Krabi.files/

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, Boksida said:

Full details of wells drilled by the Department of Groundwater Resources are on the net. You will need to be able to read Thai and can search by Changwat, Amphur and Tambon. The database will show drilled depths, yields, water levels etc.

Try this:

http://app.dgr.go.th/newpasutara/xml/Krabi.files/

 

I was under the impression that this list is only a small group of registered wells. A lot of wells here on Samui are unregistered and hence there is no record.

 

I and a number of my customers were advised to go to at least 100 meters or there abouts to ensure a good supply of water.

 

Many houses that only went to 70 meters or less have dried up. (We are on a hill up to 60 meters above sea level.) Depths will vary around the island depending on where the aquifers are.

[Boksida]

Some people are hard to please. I would have thought a database showing the results and geographical coordinates of 115 wells spread over 7 tambons with an average depth of 58.6 metres would be a good place to start. Depths of wells reported range from 12 to 140 metres.

[ding]

This has been coming for years.

It was a known issue in the early 90's.

 

I declined a real estate purchase years ago there for this very reason.

[PoorSucker]

Since there is shortage anymore,  this topic is closed.