North, Northeast warned of drought
The Office of National Water Resources (ONWR) has warned of water shortages in 160 districts in the North and Northeast due to the low level of water in dams and reservoirs and an anticipated lack of rain in July and August.
Somkiart Prajamwong, ONWR secretary general, told the Royal Irrigation Department, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency to review their projection of water reserves in the dams under their supervision and manage water discharge accordingly.
Somkiart said the Hydro Informatics Institute has predicted that a mild El Nino phenomenon will occur and last until next month, causing a rain shortage in the North, the East and the Northeast.
Based on the data from the Hydro Informatics Institute, 34 districts in six northern provinces, 71 districts in eight northeastern provinces and 55 districts in seven southern provinces could be hit with water shortages during the period.
He said the ONWR would coordinate with the Royal Rain Making Department to carry out rain seeding operations in drought areas to alleviate the suffering of those affected.
Somkiart noted that the Meteorological Department predicted that central and eastern provinces and Bangkok would have below-average rainfall by as much as five per cent during the next three months while the North and Northeast will see an average amount of rain.
He said Thailand now has about 39.622 billion cubic metres of water in water resources nationwide, or about 49 per cent of storage capacity. None of 38 large water reservoirs around the country has water higher than 80 per cent of its storage capacity.
Only three dams have stored up to around 60 to 80 per cent of capacity, namely the Sri Nakarin Dam, Ratchaprapha Dam and Bang Lan Dam.
He said 15 large dams around the country have water below 15 per cent of their capacity.
He noted that Tropical Storm Mun that was downgraded to depression after it made landfall in Vietnam early this month did not unleash enough rains to allow water to flow into the reservoirs around the country and that rainfall in June was 30-per-cent lower than expected.
As a result, government agencies in charge of managing dams should retain the water for use during the dry period instead of releasing it in preparation for more rains, Somkiart added.
