BANGKOK – The Royal Irrigation Department is studying diversion of water from the Loei estuary to the Northeast as part of its sustainable solutions to the region’s water shortage.
The department has arranged a seminar to brainstorm the design of a very long water transmission tunnel in the Loei, Mun and Chi water management project. The water tunnel is expected to create water security during the dry season and prevent too much water from flowing into the Mekong river. Water will be diverted from the Loei estuary—a branch of the Mekong—through the tunnel to agricultural areas in the Northeast.
Once the tunnel’s construction is completed, two billion cubic meters of water will be diverted through the tunnel each year. The water diversion through the tunnel is expected to benefit more than 1.7 million households and increase irrigation areas during the dry season to 9.4 million Rai and more than 30 million Rai during the rainy season.
