PWA affirms enough water to last through drought

BANGKOK, March 18 (TNA) -- Thailand's Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) stressed that drought this year would be less severe than 2016, as the country has higher amount of water by 2.5 times than last year and so raw water would be more than enough to produce tap water for the year. PWA Governor Seree Supratid reaffirmed that drought this year would not affect the amount of raw water used for tap productions, as there are more than water than in 2016 by 2.5 times, whereas the demands for raw water in tap water production is only about 1,200 cubic metres per year, accounting for only about 3 per cent of the country's total demand for water, which is seeing a rise in demands by 50 million cubic metres annually. The governor said the PWA is only responsible to provide services of only 20 per cent across all provinces, where the rest would be the responsibility of the Department of Local Administration (DLA), where some areas could be at risk of facing raw water shortage, though the PWA would continue to work with the DLA to ensure that there is enough water to meet demands. He noted that the PWA itself must also carefully survey four risk areas, including Phan district in Chiang Rai, Nang Rong district in Buri Ram, Loeng Nok Tha district in Yasothorn, and Ban Bueng in Chon Buri province. Moreover, he said cooperation is still needed from all sectors to help economise the use of water, particularly in the agricultural sector, which take up 70 per cent of the overall water usage in the country. (TNA)