All Thai sectors urged to save water consumption

BANGKOK, July 10 (TNA) - The Royal Irrigation Department, under the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, has called for all sectors in the country to save their water consumption in the coming months when downpours should be less than a normal level, as forecast by the Meteorological Department. The department's deputy director-general, Thaweesak Thanadachopol, made the call on July 9 in response to recent forecast reports that overall amounts of downpours in Thailand during this year's rainy season as of mid-July should be less than a normal level by 5-10 per cent. "Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has also expressed his concerns over the water situation, which may have negative impacts on people in affected areas", Thaweesak said. Thaweesak told journalists that his department has, thus, prepared measures to cope with the situation, along with calling for the cooperation from all Thai sectors to save their water consumption and to maximize the benefit of their use of water in the coming months. According to the senior official, the measures include public campaigns on asking local farmers to mostly rely on rainfalls in their respective areas in their upcoming crop growing, while areas where crops have already been grown, his department will allocate water supply to them based on a rotation basis fairly in order to meet the demand side sufficiently. Besides, trucks and water pumps, as well as other machines and tools have been prepared to be dispatched to areas facing water shortages. Based on latest official figures, the amount of water at all dams and reservoirs nationwide totaled 37,162 cubic meters as of July 9, about 49 per cent of their total capacity, only 13,238 cubic meters of which are usable. The Meteorological Department forecast recently that the amount of downpours as of mid-July should be less than a normal level by 5-10 per cent and the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute estimated that there should be less downpours in Thailand during August-September. (TNA)