Water bill 'requires more debate'

SOME ASPECTS of the upcoming Water bill need to be discussed further, such as public participation in water management and preparations for climate change, and included in the law, a forum has heard.

The Thailand Research Fund held the discussion yesterday to gather opinions from related agencies about water reform. It will relay its findings to the National Reform Council this month.

Sucharit Koontanakulvong, head of water resources engineering at Chulalongkorn University, said passing of the Water bill legislation was essential to tackle the major challenge of water resource management.

He said the act would be the main tool to defuse confusion among authorities and serve as the master plan for water management.

“Because we have up to 17 official agencies involved in water management, the policies of each agency are different and often overlap each other, making it harder for them to work together,” Sucharit explained.

“They gather the information using different standards and there is a lack of efficiency in working together as there is a bureaucratic difference among the agencies and a change in the line of command often affects water management projects.”

He said the Water Act would force all agencies to work together because it would be the primary law to follow.

“This new act will also allow greater public participation in water management but it will have to be discussed further on how deep the public will participate,” he said. 

“However, we’re planning for locals to plan and decide local water management projects, not just sit in on public hearings,” he said.

 

Act should be ‘proactive and adaptive’ 

Meanwhile, Chedsada Kaewkalaya, from Kasetsart University’s Irrigation Engineering Department, did not believe the bill is the answer to problems and suggested the new act should be more proactive and adaptive.

“The passing of laws to fix wrong things in the past was not the solution in the long run. 

“The new act should be like the master rule for water management and let [the authorities in] each water basin administrate within their area because each area has a different environment and can’t be managed by the same policy,” Chedsada said.

Kulwat Sathakorn, of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, suggested that preparations for the impact of climate change on water resources should be considered and added to the bill, as he cited scientific proof that climate change would affected water resources worldwide.