The Interior Ministry is struggling to prepare water stocks for consumption until July next year as water crisis this year is expected to be as severe as the one in 2015.
"The drought crisis will be felt mostly upcountry. Tap water supplies will fall in some areas, so we need to prepare water stocks to help," Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said yesterday, after meeting the National Water Resource Committee. Officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority are preparing solutions to help affected provinces get through the drought until July, which is the middle of the country's rainy season, he said.
A list of villages which cannot produce water from their water supply facilities is also being prepared. Trucks loaded with water will be sent to help residents, Gen Anupong said. The ministry is working with the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, which oversees rivers and reservoirs, to alleviate the impacts.
The Chao Phraya River has "very low water capital", minister Chalermchai Sri-on said, referring to the amount of useable water in the river that channels water from the upper region down to the Central Plains. The volume of water to be diverted from the Mae Klong River to the Chao Phraya must be increased. The Royal Irrigation Department earlier wanted to add 800 million cubic metres to the river, but with the water shortages, the amount will increase to 2,000 cu m, Mr Chalermchai said. Chachoengsao, Uthai Thani and Kanchanaburi have been already listed as drought-hit provinces, said Monthon Sutprasoet, chief of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department.