BANGKOK, Jan 8 – People started to suffer early and severe water shortages in many provinces and the Chao Phraya dam raised its discharges to protect Bangkok and nearby provinces in the lower Chao Phraya river basin from seawater intrusion.
The Regional Irrigation Office 12 in Chai Nat province increased the discharge rate of the Chao Phraya dam from 85 cubic meters per second to 100 cubic meters per second to protect Bangkok from salinity during the high tide from Jan 8 to 10. The office asked people living downstream from the dam along the Chao Praya River from Chai Nat to PathumThani province to stop pumping water from the river. The increasing discharge rate would not have any adverse impacts on consumers living near irrigation canals.
In the Chao Phraya river basin, corn is dying in Ang Thong province although it naturally consumes relatively less water than other crops. Irrigation canals have been generally dry in InthaPramul sub-district of Pho Thong district for over a month. Growers dug canal beds to desperately find water remaining after consumption by rice farmers.
In Uttaradit province, seven districts covering 198 villages have been declared drought-stricken areas as local water sources dried out and more than 10,000 families lacked water.
In the southern province of Songkhla, rice was withering as it was producing grains in about 1,000 rai in KhlongRee sub-district of SathingPhra district. Local farmers depended only on rainwater because the nearest canal, KhlongArthit, is more than two kilometers away. If it does not rain within this month, their paddy fields will be damaged.
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