The rainy season may have arrived but that does not mean that the country’s drought crisis is over. The Thai meteorological office is predicting a modest future for downpours during the summer and autumn, atating that there will be “a little bit” more rain this year than last. The level of water in the country’s largest dams remains critically low and there would need to be two to three years of normal rainfall to allow them to recover to 50% of capacity.
The drought affects not only farmers but fruit growers whose produce in many cases is in ruins. Farmers have also lost money whilst some rural hospitals do not have enough water to run services. In Pattaya, there have been many predictions of storms and downpours, but these have rarely translated into reality. In fact, the city itself has had only four days or nights of substantial rain in the past month. The local reservoirs remain disappointingly low in terms of water content.