BANGKOK, 30 November 2014 – Thailand and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic are jointly developing the scientific-based data for an accurate weather forecasting system necessary for better water management.
Minister of Science and Technology Pichet Durongkaveroj said Thailand has engaged in cooperation agreements with Laos in five areas of water management so that both countries will achieve a more accurate forecasting system, using comprehensive data collected from telemetry stations located both in Thailand and Laos.
The five cooperation projects are the creation of water database via website www.laowater.net, the development of weather-forecast models, the installation of new Satellite Telemetry Stations in Laos, the sediment control which can reduce pollutants in the Mekong River and the know-how on water management in line with royally initiated projects.
Mr. Royol Chitdon, Director of the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute (HAII), said the automatic telemetry stations have been developed by HAII in order to collect data on weather, rainfalls and water levels in distant locations and send back the data via GPRS and 3G networks. Then the updated data will be shown on Thai website www.thaiwater.net.
At present, there are 800 telemetry stations across Thailand and one more to be installed in 2015, hoping to enhance the forecast accuracy.
Moreover, Thailand and Laos are cooperating in introducing the success of royally-initiated water management models in 55 Thai communities to those in Laos in order to enable the latter to deal with the water shortage and overflow problems.
