Post flood Pattaya braces for drought

Post flood Pattaya braces for drought

• Published: 3/09/2012 at 03:31 PM
• Online news: Regional
• Affiliated by

Whilst most media stories have been about flooding, and whether the disaster of 2011 will be repeated, water experts in Pattaya and Rayong are warning about inadequate supplies in 2013. They say that preventive measures now are essential if the Eastern Seaboard is to avoid a crisis in time for next year’s high season.

Jaroeon Worapansopak, executive vice president of East Water plc, said, “If there is no rainfall for 10 consecutive months next year we will definitely face a drought.”  There were serious droughts in the Pattaya and Rayong areas in 2005 and again in 2007 when the water authority was sometimes forced to disconnect supplies even to facilities in the middle of the city.

The problem now is that increasing amounts of water are needed by the industrial plants in Map Ta Phut and Rayong which have undergone tremendous growth, much of it controversial, in the last five years.  The industrial water demand has climbed by almost 30 percent since 2005 and is expected to continue growing more.  Meanwhile the water levels at Klong Yai, Dok Krai and Nong Palai reservoirs are at only 49.9 percent of capacity.

Nationwide, 40 per cent of stored water is used by the agricultural  sector, 38 per cent by the industrial sector, leaving only 12 perc ent for residential consumption and 10 per cent for sustaining the environment.  So far this year, rainfall has been only average, although the supply has increased owing to the installation of pumps at some reservoirs.  Additionally, Pattaya as a tourist resort now hosts a much larger number of visitors than previously which places further burdens on water supplies.

Various measures to prevent shortages already under way include cloud seeding, pumping from one area to another, reusing water, seeking new water resources, digging more trenches in existing reservoirs and desalination.  But an official at the Pattaya water office told Pattaya Today, “It all comes down to rainfall.  Other measures are not all that significant in this area.  We need torrential downpours every day now right through to the end of the rainy season.”

Water shortages in Pattaya itself, which have not been a problem in recent years, are dreaded by the tourist industry for obvious reasons.  The Federation of Thai Industries estimates that a recurrence of the 2005 drought would result in losses of 300 billion baht for the industrial, agricultural and tourism sectors.  It estimates that demand for water in Thailand now is rising at eight per cent annually.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/regional/310619/after-flood-pattaya-braces-for-drought