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Drought News - Not a lot of
water in Pattaya and Rayong.
Reservoirs in Pattaya and Rayong are
drying up. With the rainy season 2/3 completed the lakes
are near empty and will be dry shortly. Both are below
their "Dead Storage" Pray for rain!!!
Airtime is still hibernating for the
summer, we are not sure what they will do when they return from
Europe.
Lakeland, the cable park in Pattaya is
still operating on their private lake, but water levels are very
low. There is no need to swim after a fall, just walk out.
Latest News Print
Bangkok Post August 24
Supplies expected to last only one month
PREEYANAT PHANAYANGGOOR & ACHATTHAYA CHUENNIRAN
Cabinet yesterday approved in principle spending 284 million
baht on eight new measures to tackle eastern water
shortages.
Deputy government spokeswoman Sansanee Nakphong said the
measures were expected to increase available water by about
40 million cubic metres a year.
The current water volume is about 32 million cubic metres.
She said cabinet wanted more specific details about the
projects and more analysis by the National Economic and
Social Development Board and the Budget Bureau before giving
final approval.
The eight projects include laying a water pipeline between
Nong Pla Lai and Ban La Han Yai, expected to cost 270
million baht, the Nam Yen-Ban Kai canals water diversion,
the Kwai Kud Bor canal dredging and a study of Rayong river
management.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Phinij Jarusombat said
the eastern region would run out of water by the end of this
month if there is no rain.
The measures, he said, could add about 400,000 cubic metres
of water a day to the region's main reservoirs _ 100,000
cubic metres short of the 500,000 cubic metres of water used
daily in the East.
He said a planned water diversion project could add about
260,000 cubic metres a day, while short-term measures,
including the digging of artesian wells and pumping water
from Thap Hu and Thap Ma canals, would respectively add
about 60,000 and 100,000 cubic metres a day.
But the deputy prime minister said unless there was rain,
the region would face water shortages, since projects such
as the water pipeline from Bang Prakong and Bang Phra
reservoirs, would not go online until the end of November.
``I will do my best to find enough water to match the high
demand in the region.''
In Phuket, meanwhile, businesses will ask the government to
tackle water shortages in the province where current
reserves are expected to last a month.
They plan to raise the issue during a mobile cabinet meeting
in Phangnga province next month.
Issara Anukul, chief of the Phuket irrigation office's water
distribution section, said volume at Bangwad reservoir, a
major reservoir in the province, was measured at 350,000
cubic metres or 4.6% of capacity. Earlier this year, water
at the reservoir was measured at 7.3 million cubic metres.
The nine water reservoirs in Phuket have a combined volume
of 1.7 million cubic metres.
``The water reserves from all water sources in the province
will be enough for one month starting from today. There is a
demand of about two million cubic metres a month here,''
said Mr Issara.
Sayant Varee-arunroj, director of the Provincial Waterworks
Authority's Phuket office, said parts of Kathu district were
already short of raw water for tap water production and
businesses had to buy water or dig wells.
He said the waterworks office had bought raw water from
private water sources to produce tap water which could
supply customers until September.
In a related development, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
ordered relevant agencies to look into the problem of forest
encroachment, particularly in Mae Sot, Samui island,
Phangnga and Chiang Mai's districts of Fang and Chai Prakan.
Spokesman Surapong Seubwonglee said Mr Thaksin believed 99%
of state officials were involved in forest encroachment and
ordered the transfer of officials found to be involved in
the practice.
Rayong reservoir drying up
Bangkok
Post Aug 20-05
Water level drops below dead storage
PIYAPORN WONGRUANG
The water level in the main reservoir in Rayong has dropped
below dead storage, the level at which water should be kept
to preserve the integrity of the reservoir, said Samart
Chokkanapitark, director-general of the Royal Irrigation
Department, yesterday.
As of yesterday, the Nong Pla Lai reservoir, which has the
capacity to hold 164 million cubic metres of water, was left
with only 11 million cu m, already 2 million cu m below its
minimum requirement. Reservoirs need to maintain a certain
level of water, the dead storage, to prevent damage to their
structure.
Meanwhile, Dok Krai, its sister reservoir, has about 5.8
million cu m of water left, while its dead storage point is
3 million cu m.
Mr Samart admitted that the water level in the two
reservoirs had never dropped to such a low level before.
He said about 480,000 cu m a day is needed to feed
industries and create tap water for households in the
region, but only about 250,000 cu m of water is flowing into
the two reservoirs each day.
The department has been drawing about 150,000 cu m of water
per day from the Rayong river and the Bang Phra reservoir in
Chon Buri to help meet Rayong's needs.
``It's time we helped one another. Some industrial operators
have developed their own reservoirs. They are also thinking
of desalinising sea water,'' said Mr Samart.
The Eastern Seaboard, which is home to several industrial
estates, has been facing water shortages for more than two
months now, though the government is trying to fix the
problem with capital spending projects.
The government has so far approved 13 short-term projects
worth about 2.8 billion baht to tackle the crisis.
The projects include water diversion from other reservoirs
and rivers. But some local people have opposed these plans,
fearing environmental destruction and unfair distribution of
water. Yesterday, the National Human Rights Commission added
its voice to calls that the government suspend the planned
water diversion schemes to ease water shortages in the
Eastern Seaboard.
NRC chairman Saneh Chamarik said the schemes, strongly
opposed by local residents, are mostly meant to satisfy the
needs of the industrial sector.
Mr Saneh said the NRC wants the projects suspended because
the Water Resources Department has assured that there would
be no shortage of supplies until the end of the year.
Water shortages do not stem from drought, but from poor
management and from urges to serve interests of a particular
group, he said.
The government should conduct environmental impact studies
and hold public hearings on water diversion projects, he
said.
The NRC will make recommendations on new water management
standards for future plans as the government is setting its
sights on developing 25 river basins nationwide to prevent
water shortages in future. The suggestions will be submitted
to the government.
Mr Samart said the department would go ahead with the
projects and also listen to what local people have to say.
Water levels in some reservoirs in the Northeast and the
southern province of Phuket were also critically low, which
could lead to severe water shortages.
There was now about 41,200 million cu m of water in about 30
major dams nationwide, 61% of the total capacity.
The department would also speed up its efforts to fill the
country's largest dams, Bhumibol and Sirikit, by up to 80%
of their storage capacity, or about 23,000 million cu m,
after His Majesty the King had expressed concern that there
might not be enough water for use in the dry season next
year, Mr Samart said.
More artificial rain would be created and the department
would be more strict in releasing water from those two dams
for use from now on, he added.
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DROUGHT: Water
crisis in the East set to worsen
Published on Aug 14 , 2005
THE NATION
Region's supplier says reservoirs have enough supply
for next 150 days only
Industries and residences in the East are being
warned that the water crisis in the region is likely
to dramatically worsen in the next 150 days.
"The current water reserve will be enough for
another 150 days," Wanchai Lawatanatrakul, president
and CEO of Eastern Water Resource Development and
Management Plc (East Water), the region's only
water-supply company.
Each day, 400,000 cubic metres of water flow into
the region's water system while 500,000 cubic metres
are pumped out for local consumption. Accordingly,
water levels in the region's reservoirs are
currently dropping by 100,000 cubic metres per day.
Based on last week's data, the three major
reservoirs in Rayong - Nong Plalai, Dok Krai and
Khlong Yai reservoirs - contain a total of 15
million cubic metres of water, which safeguards the
region for the next three months only, Wanchai said.
Wanchai said the company had not anticipated the
severity of the situation. "We did forecast and plan
for the need for a supporting project to link more
pipe systems to more reservoirs, but we did not
anticipate that it would happen this soon," Wanchai
said.
Unusually, he said, the region had experienced two
concurrent dry years.
He said droughts usually alternate with a wet year
that refills the reservoirs and supplies them with
enough water to cover the supply for the following
year.
The company was therefore relying on this year's
rains in the East to cover the four-month period
from October to January next year, Wanchai said.
"If we are lucky, heavy rainfall will fill all our
reservoirs. The worst-case scenario is that the
rainfall in the region will be as little as 200,000
cubic metres per day - the same as it is now.
"These new circumstances require us to alleviate
further risk by becoming more reliant on rivers as
an additional source of water," he said.
Wanchai said the company's future plans to alleviate
the crisis will rely on water from the Bangpakong
and Rayong rivers, in addition to supplies from
reservoirs in Chon Buri and Rayong.
The water system has been connected to the Rayong
River, despite local opposition. The Bangpakong
River project will divert water from Pasak Dam to
the river to prevent seawater contaminating the
upstream source as the water
is diverted into East Water's
water system - a move that may also face local
opposition, Wanchai added.
The only other permanent solution would be to divert
water from Cambodia's Strungnam Dam, which was
initially constructed to produce electricity.
"This project would depend on negotiations between
the Thai and Austrian governments, but looks very
promising."
In response to the local opposition that these
projects face, Wanchai said the company already
contributes 5 per cent of its net income to a social
programme for local villagers.
Wanchai added that he has put in a request to the
Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to send him
updated figures for the water requirements of
industries in the area, together with each factory's
projected demands, in order for the company to
adjust and improve its management accordingly.
Kamol Sukin
The Nation |
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