PM to discuss solutions
PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha will next week hold a meeting with the National Water Management Committee to determine short- and long-term solutions, including the digging of 200,000 wells and the proposal to divert waters from the Salawin and Mekong r
The meeting would consider implementation of the country’s 10-year water management strategy (2015-2026), already approved by the Cabinet’s May 7 meeting. The short-term solutions from 2015 to 2016 would tackle water shortage for consumption and use the normal budget of Bt60 billion plus a special fund of Bt30 billion. Thus, the two years would see up to Bt90 billion spent on short-term solutions for water problems, he said. They included equipping 7,000 villages with tap water and increasing water retention areas such as the digging up of 200,000 wells on farmlands – instead of the originally planned 50,000 wells and the creation of “monkey cheek” areas, he added. Any area in need of a well or widening of an old well could apply for fund via the Interior Ministry, he said.
Long-term solutions would focus on finding water to fill the main dams hence water from Salawin River could be diverted to Bhumibol Dam, an idea reportedly welcomed by Myanmar leaders, and water from Mekong River water could be diverted to the Sirikit Dam – pending discussions with the Mekong River Committee, he said.
Chatchai also said the severe drought stemmed from mismanagement after the 2011 flood had prompted the release of large amounts of water from dams to prevent flooding the following year.
