RID moves forward with plans to eradicate water hyacinth

BANGKOK, March 18 (TNA) -- The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) pledge its full support to the national agenda, affirming that by September 30, 2017, all natural water sources would be free of water hyacinth. RID Deputy Director General Thongplew Kongjun said that his department has been able to destroy 1.44 million tonnes of water hyacinth from the targeted number of 2.77 million tonnes from all water sources in the responsibility of RID He note that the department has also joined hands with the Department of Public Works, Town and Country Planning (DPT), Marine Department (MD), and military units to eradicate 175,844 tonnes of water hyacinth from main rivers out of the targeted 232,411 tonnes, in which the RID believes the problem would be solved as planned. Meanwhile, as a special project tasked by the DPT to help eradicate around 50,000 tonnes of the water plant from the Tha Chin River since March 4, Mr Thongplew said the department has been able to destroy about 1,030 tonnes of the plant. He said the department would now mobilise more machinery in order to pull at least 2,000 tonnes of the water crop out of the area each day in order to quickly complete the project. He stressed that the problem of water hyacinth has been listed as a national agenda by Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, where the RID has been tasked to clear out parts of the Tha Chin River, along with Noi, Pa Sak, and Nakhon Nayok rivers from the water plant, as well as canals, streams, and channels in the responsibility of the department. The deputy director general noted that the next step in this process is to implement prevention measures and closely monitor the situation in order to ensure that the water hyacinth would not spread any further. (TNA)