Expanding drought in upper Thai areas

BANGKOK, February 8 (TNA) - Drought has been expanding in Thailand, especially in the northeastern region, prompting local officials to reduce water released from a main dam to maintain its benchmarked reserve. In Nakhon Ratchasima Province in the Thai Northeast, the Lamtakong Dam Irrigation and Maintenance Project has reduced the amount of water released from the main dam to three cubic meters per second, from 10 and 5 cubic meters per second earlier, after its water reserve dropped to only 26 per cent of its full capacity. The escalating drought has also affected local tourism at a waterfall downstream the Lamtakong Dam. In the northeastern Nongkhai Province, the water level in the Mekong River has been declining, with the department of water resources reporting the water level at 1.52 meters. Sand dunes have, thus, been emerging at several areas in five riverside districts in Nongkhai, making a one–kilometer sand beach appearing at Baan Thamafueng set to be opened as a new local tourist attraction on February 12. In Nakhon Sawan Province in the Lower Thai North, water levels in local canals have dried up after local farmers pumped water for their households' restoration and use for next cultivation of their crops planned within the next couple of months. (TNA)