Officials fear clashes over limited water

PHICHIT : Farmers battling drought conditions have destroyed lines of sandbags in an irrigation canal, upsetting a rival group of upstream farmers who also want access to the water.

Skirmishes over water are likely to escalate, local authorities fear, as the dry spell in this and other northern provinces spreads.

In Phichit's Sam Ngam district, the dry spell has hit 4,643 villages in 19 provinces.

More than half of the drought-hit villages are in northern provinces.

More than 20 farmers in tambon Nern Por in Sam Ngam district yesterday tried to destroy lines of sandbags placed near a weir in an irrigation canal to allow water to flow downstream.

They accused farmers in tambon Nong Son of blocking the water from flowing to their paddy fields.

The two groups had agreed to share water in the canal equally. Under the agreement, the farmers in Nong Son, who live upstream, unblock the canal on certain days.

Village head Pranom Makapab said it was the turn of Nern Por farmers to use the water yesterday, but the Nong Son group kept the bags in place and kept pumping water to their fields.

"They apparently broke the promise," said Mr Pranom. The other group deny this.

The Sam Ngam district chief yesterday asked the two sides to talk, but they failed to agree.

Some fear such conflicts between farmers who tend off-season paddy fields could escalate into "war" if the dry spell worsens.

Rice farmers in Kamphaeng Phet's Sai Ngam and Sam Ngam districts fought over access to an irrigation canal water in a similar conflict last week. The row ended when the two sides reached an agreement on Thursday.

Farmers have been told to brace for drought, which is expected to last longer than usual this year.

The number of villages hit by the dry spell is also likely to increase, said the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. As of Friday, up to 4,643 villagers were affected by the drought, 116 more villagers than the same period last year.

The dry weather is also blamed for sparking forest fires in northern provinces.

In Chiang Mai, the hardest hit province with 262 fires, dust particles in a smoke haze have covered many areas for more than a week.

People are seeking treatment for eye irritation and coughs, said Watana Nawajaroen, director of the Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai hospital.

The dust particles, known as particulate matter (PM) 10, measure just 10 micrometres or less (one-seventh the width of a human hair).

It settles easily on lungs, damaging tissue.

The level of PM 10 in Chiang Mai yesterday was measured at 109 microgrammes per cubic metre (ug/cu m), still below the safe limit of 120 ug/cu m, according to the Pollution Control Department. However, in nearby Phrae, Lampang, and Lamphun, the level of PM 10 exceeded safe limits.

Lampang was the worst, with up to 232 ug/ cu m.