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EDITORIAL
Water alert as drought nears
Published: 14/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The recent downpour may have provided some relief from the stifling heat that covered most parts of the country these past few weeks, with temperatures in some provinces rising above 40 Celsius. The Meteorological Department actually admitted the period of extremely high temperature we experienced was very close to a heat wave, which by definition occurs when the daily maximum temperature exceeds the average minimum temperature by 5C for five consecutive days. The extreme temperature prompted health officials to warn the public about the possibility of getting heat stroke, which could be fatal especially for children, the elderly or people who are already ill.
Although the timely arrival of the rain did provide a respite, we should not rest assured that we are now free from trouble because we will be staring at the next problem of the drought, which looks set to come after the oppressive heat. Buried underneath the pile of news about the red shirts' seizure of Ratchaprasong intersection was Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's warning that the country may be facing a water shortage soon, as we only have enough water in reservoirs around the country to last us two months.
With the existing water level already low and with the small amount of inflow, the country now has less water in its reservoirs than when we faced a drought in 1993.
The PM has not exaggerated the situation. A report on water reserves prepared by the Department of Water Resources shows a critically low water level in every river basin in the country except the Chao Phraya basin in the Central Plains and the Mae Khlong basin in the western region of Kanchanaburi. A "critically low" level means a river is carrying less than 10% of its capacity. Director Boonchop Hormkesorn of Pasak Jolasid dam in Lop Buri province, has given the dire warning that water in the reservoir has reached its lowest level since it began operations about 10 years ago. The details are rather frightening. According to Mr Boonchob, there is now only 12% or 116 million cubic metres of water in the reservoir, which has a capacity to hold 960 million cubic metres. Mr Boonchob warned farmers in Sara Buri, Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani to delay their first-crop rice planting as there is no way the reservoir will be able to supply the necessary water for their farms. In recent history, the country faced its worst drought in 2005 with 71 provinces affected and damage estimated at 7.5 billion baht. At present, the Department of Water Resources estimates that 27 provinces have already been affected.
It is encouraging that PM Abhisit realises the gravity of the situation and has assigned Deputy PM Sanan Kachornprasart to oversee the country's water situation. It remains to be seen, however, if the responsible authorities will be able to implement measures planned to cope with the water shortage, as some of them appear to contradict one another. For example, the Agriculture Ministry stated that it will have to reduce rice growing areas in the irrigation network from 13.18 million rai around the country last year, to 12.28 million rai this year. This same ministry, however, also recently issued a new four-year strategic plan to increase paddy production from 29 million tonnes to at least 30 million tonnes. This means it aims to increase the rice cultivation area from 57.5 million rai to about 62 million rai.
The heat problem may have been thwarted, but the more serious matter of drought will soon set in. The authorities must get a grip on the issue before the whole country wilts.
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