Water supply prepared for Thai industries during dry season

BANGKOK, January 28 (TNA) - Realising that drought during the upcoming dry season may be more serious than last year, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), under the Ministry of Industry, has mapped out measures to ensure that factories located within local industrial estates have enough water supply this year. IEAT Governor Veerapong Chaiperm told journalists of the information on Thursday, elaborating that the measures include recycling of used water, preparing water from artesian wells in case of emergency and supplying water from nearby areas for manufacturing firms at the Thai industrial estates. Veerapong said an industrial estate in Lamphun Province in the Thai North is most at risk of facing a water shortage during the upcoming dry season because it has relied on water from the Kuang River, which receives water from a local reservoir now having water level less than 20 per cent of its full capacity. Veerapong acknowledged that water at the northern reservoir is now slightly more 400,000 million cubic metres, while daily demand by 75 factories in Lamphun's industrial estate is over 60,000 million cubic metres, 30 of them are owned by Japanese investors. Meanwhile, IEAT and representatives of the Ministry of Industry and the Secretariat of the Prime Minister held a meeting to further discuss plans to tackle drought in the Thai North. (TNA)