Water in main dam reserved for dry season

UTTARADIT, THAILAND, July 31 (TNA) - The authority has decided to reserve water in a main Thai dam for public consumption in the upcoming dry season. Pipat Kongsintaweesuk, Deputy Director of the Sirikit Dam in Uttaradit Province in the Lower Thai North, told journalists of the policy on Monday, saying that more than 700 million cubic meters of water have been stored during the past 15 days alone due to heavy downpours caused by the Sonca Storm. Pipat revealed that more than 30 million cubic meters of water have been stored daily in the Sirikit Dam on average since mid-July. According to the senior official, there are now 5,502 million cubic meters of water in the Sirikit Dam, or 58 per cent of its full capacity, over 2,600 million cubic meters of which or 40 per cent are usable, higher than the corresponding period of last year. The senior official noted that the policy on a limited amount of water being discharged from the Sirikit Dam currently is aimed not only to ease or prevent flooding in downstream areas, but also to reserve water in the main dam for public consumption during the upcoming dry season. (TNA)