Farmers to get crisis water deliveries
Published: 3 Jun 2014 at 08.09 | Viewed: 2,649 | Comments: 4Newspaper section: NewsWriter: Apinya Wipatayotin
The Department of Royal Irrigation has promised to provide enough water for farmers this year despite predictions of low rainfall levels.
The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) estimates rainfall will decrease by 20% this year. The situation is likely to worsen if El Nino climatic changes take hold. El Nino is a weather phenomenon that periodically warms the Pacific Ocean, with knock-on effects on weather conditions worldwide.
Thanar Suwattana, spokesman for the Department of Royal Irrigation (DRI), said this year's rainfall predictions are a concern, but officials have been working with the TMD to monitor the situation.
Mr Thanar insisted the department is ready to provide water to farmers if rainfall decreases over the next few months, saying water could be distributed from main reservoirs to agricultural zones.
According to the department, the total volume of water in all reservoirs currently stands at 35.30 billion cubic metres, or about half of storage capacity. The remaining capacity is intended to accommodate rainfall during the rainy season.
TMD deputy chief Songkran Agsorn said this year's rainfall levels are set to be low because high pressure from China had stopped monsoon patterns from forming. Rain in the South has also decreased because storms in the Pacific Ocean have been veering away from Thailand, he said.
“We expect a smaller number of storms this year, especially in the first half of the rainy season. It is almost dry. We are going to monitor El Nino," Mr Songkran said.
El Nino could cause severe droughts and increases in sea temperature, which will last about six months to one year, while reduced rainfall will hit in Bangladesh and India as well as Thailand, he added.
Mr Songkran said the department announced the start of rainy season on May 27, two weeks later than usual. The season will end in early October.
According to the department’s climate centre, rainfall across all regions last month was below average based on its 30-year baseline.
Last month, there was 146mm of rainfall in the North compared to the baseline of 177mm; 122mm in the Northeast, down from 187mm; 97mm in the Central region compared to 172mm; 122mm in the eastern South against the average of 143.7mm and 216mm in the western South, compared to the usual 308mm.
Mr Thanar said the water level in Pasak Chonlasit dam in Lop Buri province is around 15% and only 5% in Khun Dan Prakarnchon dam in Nakhon Nayok province.
Bhumipol dam in Tak is currently at 36% capacity, while Sirikit dam in Uttradit is at 38%.