Water firms 'going full speed'

“We have no production problem for bottles of water and 80-90 per cent of them have been donated to help flood victims in many affected areas,” said Chatchai Wiratyosin, marketing director for beer brewer Singha Corp.
All of the company’s bottled-water plants in Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Surat Thani, Bang Len and Sam Sen are already running at full capacity, he said. Only the Pathum Thani factory had to be closed after it was flooded.
The company has donated up to 6 million bottles of drinking water so far, and will continue giving away water until the flooding situation is completely improved.
“The only problem is that we cannot deliver to retailers’ warehouses and distribution centres, which have been seriously affected by the flood. Many transport routes in Bangkok and the suburbs have been cut or blocked by flood waters,” he said. The problem of zero supplies at many retail stores throughout Bangkok is caused by consumers, who are totally panicked about the flood situation and have stocked up on all necessities, including water, to store at home, he said. They have increased their purchases of bottled water from only two cases to about 20 cases per visit, for instance.
Parinya Permpanich, director of marketing and sales at Serm Suk, the bottler of Pepsi-Cola, said the three manufacturing facilities for bottled water in Nakhon Ratchasima, Surat Thani and Chon Buri were already at maximum capacity. They have been operating three shifts a day, seven days a week.
“The problem being faced by the company is that major suppliers of plastic bottles and caps have also been affected by flood as their facilities are in inundated areas, including Rangsit, Lop Buri and Nakhon Sawan,” he said.
Meanwhile, Charoen Passara, governor of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority, said additional measures had been implemented to provide safe and clean tap water.