The Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR) has vowed to complete the Huai Luang Water Development project, a scheme to make use of overflown from the Mekong River in flood season to irrigate farmland in northeastern provinces.
The project is an updatedreincarnation version of the Khong-Chi-Mun plan, a water irrigation scheme initiated 30 years ago to expand irrigation to arid regions in the Northeast.
Under the project, a series of dams, irrigation canals, and pumping stations will be set up in tributaries of the Mekong in Udon Thani and Nong Khai to channel overflown to "feed" local rivers and store water to keep for dry season.
Some parts of the project were built over two decades ago, but work stopped after it was shelved following protests from locals who feared an adverse impact on the environment.
More than twenty years later, the project was revived when the military government approved a 21-billion-baht budget in April to improve irrigation in the Huai Luang River basin, which covers Udon Thani and Nong Khai provinces.
"If the Huai Luang project is successful, other water management schemes in the Northeast will face less opposition from local communities, as they will be able to see the benefits themselves," said ONWR secretary-general, Somkiat Prajamwong, during a visit to Nong Khai province last week.
Mr Somkiat said the Huai Luang project will increase arable land in the arid region from only 15,000 rai to about 300,000 rai.
"This covers almost 30,000 families living in 284 villages in both Nong Khai and Udon Thani," he said.
The procurement of large water pumps is at the heart of the scheme, because the region's uneven terrain necessitates the continuous pumping of water from the lowlands to feed canals located on higher grounds.
"We will also dig about 47 kilometres of canals and 15 sluice gates to control the flow," said Mr Somkiat.
He added that the entire project will take about a decade to complete, but any section that has been finished can be used right away.
The Huai Luang project is one of nine so-called "megaprojects", which are aimed at expanding irrigation in the otherwise arid region.
Only a little over 10% of the entire region is sufficiently irrigated.
After the Huai Luang project, Mr Somkiat, said the office will push for other schemes to divert flood water from the Mekong that flowing in tributaries in Thailand to improve irrigation -- including water storage projects in Udon Thani's Nong Han Kamphawapi Lake and Kalasin's Lam Pao dam.
Chainarong Setthachua, a lecturer on environmental management at Mahasarakham University, said the ONWR needs to come to terms with reality.
"The project was initiated well over two decades ago. But now, the situation has drastically changed. Water levels in the Mekong are becoming increasingly unpredictable after China and Laos started building dams upstream," said Mr Chainarong, before warning that the project may actually worsen floods in the Northeast.
He asked the ONWR to provide additional information about several communities that might face forced relocation to make way for the construction of canals and water pumping stations.
Furthermore, Mr Chainarong warned that the project may cause problems with soil salinity, as there are significant salt deposits in the area which may be detrimental to agricultural activities.