More artesian wells to be drilled to ease Thailand's drought

BANGKOK, June 24 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will spend a 84-million-baht budget on drilling 500 additional artesian wells nationwide to help boost water supply and relieve the widespread drought currently. The move was approved at a meeting of economic ministers in Bangkok on Wednesday, chaired by Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha. Thai Interior Minister General Anupong Paojinda told journalists after the meeting that the new 500 artesian wells nationwide, in addition to 380 existing ones, are expected to produce additional 200,000 cubic meters of water to serve 100,000-130,000 rai of local farmlands (2.5 rai = 1 acre). General Anupong said that about 2,000 villagers will be hired to drill the new artesian wells 24 hours, along with support by soldiers, and the task should, thus, finish in mid-July 2015. According to the interior minister, artificial rain operations are another measure being implemented to ease the drought problem. The interior minister noted authorities at the meeting expressed confidence that official water management should guarantee sufficient water supply for people's consumption until April 2016. However, the interior minister admitted, about 850,000 rai, out of a total of 3.45 million rai of farmlands nationwide, may lack water. Meanwhile, Thai Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Petipong Pungbun Na Ayudhya told reporters that he will discuss financial assistance with Finance Minister Sommai Phasee next week to help drought-affected farmers change plants or postpone their rice growing to July or August when downpours are expected. Lertviroj Kowattana, Director-General of the Royal Irrigation Department, acknowledged that water discharged from four large reservoirs nationwide has been reduced from 33 million cubic meters to 28 million cubic meters a day so that there should be sufficient water supply to serve the domestic farm sector until August 2015, instead of next month, as the overall water held at the four reservoirs now stands at 1,067 million cubic meters. (TNA)