Seasonal drought has begun to severely affect several more areas of the country while some parts of the North are reported to have a growing problem with haze that is caused by the burning of grass and man-made forest fires.
Khon Kaen in the Northeast became the latest province to formally announce its drought-affected areas yesterday, saying 22 out of its 26 districts have been declared as drought-hit zones.
Five out of the 22 affected districts are facing a critical drought situation in which residents do not have suffiicient water for consumption after water in the main resources used to produce running water to supply to communities ran dry some time ago, said provincial governor Kamthorn Thawornsathit.
The drought situation will likely worsen as the drought-hit areas are expected to expand, he said.
The Interior Ministry on Thursday announced Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Lop Buri, Maha Sarakham, Nakhon Sawan, Sukhothai, Sakon Nakhon and Buri Ram as drought-affected areas.
However, many more areas in other provinces have reportedly been experiencing drought but have yet to be listed as affected zones.
"So far the drought has cost the province around 700 million baht in losses," Mr Kamthorn said.
The 22 affected districts are now being instructed to each spend 1 million baht of their contingency funds to finance measures aimed at relieving the impact of the drought, he said.
The water volume in Khon Kaen's Ubolratana Dam, the main water resource in the province and nearby ones such as Maha Sarakham and Kalasin, was found to have plunged to 45% of capacity, he said.
Still, only half of the remaining water, or about 518 million cubic metres, can be used until the rainy season comes in the second quarter of the year, he said.
In Sakhon Nakhon, more than 300 households in Ban Rim Nonghan Hanghong in Muang district are now forced to buy water for 250 baht to 300 baht per medium-sized water tanker for consumption.
As for drinking water, they have to buy bottled water as the water bought from the tankers is only clean enough for showering and washing purposes.
Pramual Sapaso, 80, one of the villagers who now relies on water supply services provided by operators in other villages that are not affected by the drought, said the water shortage has been going on for a while since running water supplies have stopped because of a lack of unpurified water.
In the North, the haze situation in Lampang is approaching a critical point, with the levels of tiny dust particles in the air, which are produced by illegal grass and rubbish burning and man-made forest fires, rising closer to the maximum level of 120 microgrammes per cubic metre that is believed to still be safe for people to breathe.
However, when dust particle levels exceed 120 microgrammes per cubic metre, the air quality is considered unsafe.
Provincial deputy governor Mongkol Suksai said burning grass or rubbish in an open-air space is prohibited from Feb 1 until April 1, as a measure imposed to curb the air pollution problem.