The water level at the Chao Phraya Dam dropped 14cm into the crisis point again Friday after irrigation officials discharged water to nurture rice farms.
Dam director Ekkasit Sakthanaporn said the water level measured in upstream areas at tambon Bang Luang of Chai Nat's Sapphaya district was at 14 metres above the sea level on Friday. The level in downstream areas remained stable at 6.21 metres.
The dam has continued to discharge water at 95 cubic metres per second to push back salty water at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, said Mr Ekkasit.
The drop to critical levels came after the Royal Irrigation Department released water to soak mature paddy fields covering more than 600,000 rai along the Chao Phraya.
Some 61.42 cu/m per second had been discharged to farmland on the eastern bank of the river through the Manorom water distribution and maintenance project and Maharaj canal, while 60.27 cu/m per second was discharged to farmland in the west bank through the Pollathep and Borommathat water distribution and maintenance projects and Noi River, said the dam director.
He appealed to farmers not to increase their planting areas as there was not enough water to feed additional rai.
Meanwhile, the water situation in four major dams along the Chao Phraya River looks brighter, with more than 50 million cu/m flowing into the dams in one day, deputy government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Friday.
An increase in water flowing into the dams also has brightened the lives of farmers living in 22 Chao Phraya River Basin provinces, as the Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry has released another one million cu/m in to their farms.
On Thursday alone, 51.28 million cu/m of water flowed into the Bhumibol dam in Tak province, Sirikit dam in Uttaradit, Pasak Jolasid dam in Lop Buri and Kwae Noi Bamrung dam in Phitsanulok, said Maj Gen Sansern.
Last week the dams captured 202.73 million cu/m.
''When comparing with two weeks earlier, about 100 million cu/m of water flowing into the dams, or only 7-8 million cu/m daily. The water flowing into the dam this time shows the water situation has improved significantly," he said.
As a result, the Royal Irrigation Department adjusted water releases to farms to 19 million cu/m a day, up 1 million cu/m.
"This, coupled with continuous downpours in several areas, is helping ease water shortages for farms to some extent," said Maj Gen Sansern.
Although the water levels in the major dams have improved, the government still needed cooperation from all sectors and households to continue using water economically to preserve water supplies, he said.
The Meteorological Department issued a warning on Friday that a low pressure system arriving in northern Vietnam and the moderate southwest monsoon prevailing over the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand are likely to bring heavy rain in some areas in the North, Northeast and the East of Thailand.
The department told residents living in at-risk areas to brace for possible flash floods and forest runoff during this period.
The risk areas include Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Udon Thani, Nong Khai, Bung Kan, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom.
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department reported that nine provinces have been declared drought-emergency areas: Phrae, Chon Buri, Sukhothai, Pathum Thani, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Uttaradit and Loei.