Artificial rain operated to help ease Thailand's drought

PHITSANULOK, THAILAND, June 24 (TNA) - The Royal Rainmaking Operation Centre is now prepared to launch artificial rain operations to help alleviate widespread drought in the country. The Royal Rainmaking Operation Centre in Phitsanulok Province in the Lower Thai North is scheduled to launch the artificial rain operations over the country's three main dams, including the Bhumibol, Sirikit and Kwae Noi Bamrung Daen Dams, from June 24 to October 31, 2015, in order to ease the current drought problem. The move followed an updated water situation report, released on Wednesday by the Royal Irrigation Department (RID), under the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, that water levels in the major dams were critically low. According to the updated RID report, water levels in the Bhumibol Dam in northern Tak Province, as well as the Queen Sirikit Dam and the Kwae Noi Bamrung Daen Dam in the lower northern Uttaradit and Pitsanulok Provinces lately remained at 4,115 million cubic metres, 3,446 million cubic metres and 129 million cubic metres respectively, of which only 315 million cubic metres, 596 million cubic metres and 86 million cubic metres were usable respectively. Similarly, only 24 per cent of water in a large dam in Nakhon Ratchasima Province in the Thai Northeast was usable. Meanwhile, the director of Kwae Noi Bamrung Daen Dam conceded this year's drought appears to be more severe than previous years, as there have been no rainfalls in the area so far and there is now only 48-day usable water remaining in the large dam, calling for local people and farmers to help save water or temporarily delay their cultivations. In Nakhon Ratchasima, the local irrigation office's chief called an urgent meeting of a provincial water management panel to discuss water management plans, aimed to provide sufficient water supply for use by local households and farmlands. (TNA)