1. Irrigation officials expressed alarm Monday at the continued depletion of water in the Chao Phraya Dam after levels expressed dropped further below the crisis point.
2. The water level was at 13.95 metres above sea level at noon on Monday, five centimeters beyond the 14-metre crisis point and down from 14.4 metres Sunday afternoon.
3. The drop alerted officials in charge of water management on the lower basin of the Chao Phraya River to hold an urgent meeting to adjust Chao water-discharge plans to cope with the continued diminishment of water supplies from rivers in the northern region.
4. The meeting was ongoing a 3.45pm and dam director Ekkasit Sakthanaporn said the situation will not lead to the shortage of water for consumption.
5. He repeated a call for rice farmers in central provinces to abandon farming due to the water crisis.
6. The dam continued the discharge rate of 75 cubic metres per second to push back salty water at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, the dam chief added.
7. The problem at the dam was due to water from the Chao Phraya River being diverted by farmers to their rice plantations.
8. The Chao Phraya Dam largely receives water from the Bhumipol Dam in Tak province, which released about 32 million cu m of water a day downstream.
9. But about 20% of the water lost along the way by the time it reached the Chao Phraya Dam in Chai Nat province.
10. Mr Ekkasit warned villagers living on the upstream Chao Phraya in Uthai Thani, Nakhon Sawan and northern parts of Chai Nat that they could face a sudden collapse of the river bank due to the sharp drop of water level.
11. The Chao Phraya Dam is a main source of water to rice farmers in Chai Nat, Ang Thong, Suphan Buri and Ayutthaya.