Hit by drought and seawater, Bangkok tap water may run out in a month

Thailand is suffering its worst drought in more than a decade. In an effort to maintain water levels in the dams that supply water for agriculture in the provinces as well as taps in the capital Bangkok, the government has asked farmers to refrain from planting rice since last October.

  Despite these measures, water levels are critically low in the three key reservoirs that flow into the Chao Phraya River, one of the two main sources of Bangkok's tap water.

  The quantity of water collected in the three dams totalled 5 billion cubic metres last November, compared to the normal 8 billion cubic metres, said Thanasak Watanathana, governor of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority. As of Monday, there was about 660 million cubic metres left, according to the Royal Irrigation Department.

  "Right now, there is only enough water in the dams to distribute for about 30 more days - if it doesn't rain," Thanasak told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.

  Normally, the flow of water from the rains and dams keeps saltwater from the Gulf of Thailand at bay. But during droughts, the saltwater creeps upstream, turning the Chao Phraya brackish.

  The seawater can kill crops and threatens the pumping station that siphons off water from the river, about 100 km (60miles) from the gulf. The waterworks authority produces 5.2million cubic metres of tap water per day for 2.2 million residential, business and industrial customers, but is note quipped to treat saltwater.

  "Some days the saltwater increases, we don't intake the water from the Chao Phraya River. We stop and use the water fromthe Metropolitan Waterworks Authority stocks of water in canals. We can stop intake for 3 hours," Thanasak said.

 

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