Buri Ram to face severe drought

BURI RAM, March 1 (TNA) -- The main water sources and water reserves for tap water production in Thailand's northeastern province of Buri Ram have drastically decreased, where some sources have been dried up completely. The drought situation in Buri Ram remained worrisome, particularly as water sources such as the Nong Ta Lork reservoir in Nang Rong district, which is used to produce tap water reserves by the Nang Rong branch of the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA), has almost dried up. Meanwhile, the level of water in the Lam Nam Mat river, the main source for tap water production, has also acutely dropped, which the PWA suspects that the remaining level of water could be used to produce tap water for only the next few months. The PWA said it would have to produce up to 7,000 cubic metres of tap water daily to cater to the demands of the people in both Nang Rong Municipality and parts of the Nong Bot subdistrict, amounting to about 6,800 households and over 1,200 acres of farmlands. Director-general of the Royal Irrigation Project in Buri Ram province, Kitikul Sepasiraporn said the 16 reservoirs under the project responsibility could store a total of 291 million cubic metres of water, though all of the water level combined currently stands at only 53 per cent of its full capacity, with the water completely dried up in Nong Ta Lork reservoir. He said the water in Nong Ta Lork would be pumped up during February-May to produce tap water for local consumption, and since it is impossible to do so at the moment, water must be obtained from nearby water sources instead. For the long term solution, the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) and the PWA would use implement the approved budget of 15 million baht to initiate the laying down of 6.7 kilometres of concrete pipes and waterways to move the water for reserve in the Nong Ta Lork reservoir during floods, as well as to dredge more canals to increase the capacity of the Nong Ta Lork reservoir. (TNA)