Two Nong Khai sub-districts get water from Mekong
The Royal Irrigation Department has pumped water from Mekong River into the Huai Luang river basin area to alleviate the impact of the drought and irrigate 12,000-rai of farmlands besides enabling supply of tap water to two tambons of Nong Khai’s Pon Pisa
The water pumping from March 15 to May 10 should ultimately result in Huai Luang having at least 47 million cubic metres of water, department deputy chief Somkiat Prajamwong said yesterday. Other longer-term solutions to be implemented soon were building the Ban Daen Muang water-pump station and the 47km-stretch flood barrier along low-lying banks of the Huai Luang canal, he said. He added that the Cabinet later this year would approve the construction of a mid-sized irrigation system to cover 315,000 rai of Nong Khai and Udon Thani farmlands.
In Satun province, 16 schools had been hard-hit by the drought hence the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department would deliver water, provincial educational area office chief Nisit Chaipak said. He urged the other 145 schools to save water and arrange water containers.
In Pathum Thani, 30 tanks of 1,500-litre and tank level gauges were presented to provincial Governor Surachai Khan-asa by private sector donors PTT Global Chemical PCL and Wave Product Co Ltd.
In related news, Chiang Mai province’s haze situation has improved because neighbouring countries were believed to have reduced outdoor burning activities, said deputy governor Mongkol Suksai. He said so far 12 persons had been arrested for lighting forest fires. He also credited preventive measures that led to Chiang Mai having 63 per cent fewer hot spots than during the same period last year. He planned to visit the most forest-fire prone area of Om Koi district on March 31. Other northern provinces also saw tiny particle dust amounts lowered to under 120 micrograms per cubic metre of air, except Mae Hong Son which reported 165mcg.
