Dr. Songsak Thongsri, Deputy Minister of Interior, has clarified the comprehensive measures that the Ministry has instructed the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) to take to mitigate the effects of the unfolding drought season.
“The Ministry has advised the PWA to continually follow up on the ongoing drought situation, explore and evaluate water resources, and keep an eye on production and distribution of tap water. We have also asked the PWA to be prepared to provide water supply in emergency shortage cases.”
“For its part, in order to ensure that consumers affected by drought have sufficient supply, the PWA has continually tracked and evaluated resources for tap water production throughout the year.”
“All PWA branches are thereby required to have sufficient quality water supply throughout the drought season. To achieve this, among other measures, they must improve groundwater wells, and closely coordinate and integrate with the Royal Irrigation Department.”
“The PWA must also manage to produce and supply tap water. It must maintain sufficient raw water for production of tap water throughout the drought season.”
“Whenever any households are faced with a water shortage, PWA will provide assistance to them, whether they are inside or outside its service zones. It will achieve this by collaborating with other concerned agencies to send out water trucks. Moreover, it will ensure up-to-date advisories about the drought situation for the general public.”
Mr. Kritsada Sunkhamani, Acting PWA Governor, added that: “Although the PWA can cope with the drought, we must ask for cooperation from the general public to realise the value of water. We must all get into the habit of using tap water economically because water resources are limited and construction of reservoirs eats up a lot of financial resources.”
“In this connection, to preserve water resources, the PWA also asks consumers to check for any leakages of water or broken pipes which they may notice would prompt an unusually high water bill. If you see a broken or leaking pipe, please report it immediately to your PWA service branch, or call PWA Contact Center 1662.”