Prayut calls for water plan

PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said he had instructed officials from the Water Resources Board to brainstorm for ideas to tackle the ongoing drought, such as possibly creating a reserve of underground water or turning seawater into fresh water.

At the Government House, Prayut told reporters that the less water for use and for agriculture must be dealt starting now. 

“I’m not sure if we will have to resort to mining water in future,” he said. “Or we might have to find people to invest in digging for underground water to keep in reserve or even storing seawater just like other countries to turn it into freshwater in 30-50 years.” 

The Water Resources Board will brainstorm ideas to implement in case there is no rainfall, he said. 

The government will try to create sustainability in water management, which could be picked up by the next government.

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chatchai Sarikulya yesterday went to the Interior Ministry to conduct a videoconference with provincial governors from around the country to discuss the drought crisis. 

He assigned them to explain to local residents that the drought would affect a lot more of the country than just the areas near the Chao Phraya and Mae Klong river basins. 

He urged them to implement the eight measures that were recently approved by the Cabinet to aid drought-affected farmers. 

Those measures are to teach farmers about production costs and support production; |slow down or extend the loan-repayment period for farmers; job-creation measures for farmers; get farmers to propose drought projects in local areas; increase the effectiveness of water usage and encourage water-saving campaigns by state offices; implement projects to increase the amount of water in dams and reservoirs and conduct rainmaking operations; apply health and safety measures to improve farmers’ living conditions and other assisting measures.

Chatchai instructed the governors to talk with affected residents about the measures and set up provincial centres linked to his ministry to report updates, identify the impacts of the drought and cater to people’s needs. 

He also told the governors to speed up the process of gathering what the community people need and to speak to farmers and get proposals from them on tackling drought in local areas, which was part of the eight measures. 

He said the Interior Ministry would hold a meeting with provincial governors on Tuesday to discuss guidelines and steps for gathering community people’s needs so it could be complete within 30 days.

After the videoconference, Ubon Ratchathani Governor Somsak Jangtrakul said he had instructed relevant agencies to survey the amount of water available for farming, industries and commercial use, as well as tap-water-making activities to ensure effective water-management planning. 

“One of the measures in Ubon Ratchathani was to retain as much water passing through the province as possible so the soil remains moist. 

“Once we get all the information on water use and available amounts of water, we might need to close Pak Mul Dam to save water for use throughout next year,” he said. 

In related news, the Royal Thai Armed Forces’ public disaster |mitigation centre yesterday urged all Army regions to prepare to aid flood-hit people in the |upper provinces of Thailand between today and Monday as storms loom.