Thai PM urges gov’t agencies to cut water usage

Thailand's Prime Minister has urged government agencies to reduce their water usage by 10 percent, and disclosed the initial water management plan will focus on the management of water consumption and flood prevention.
Thailand's Prime Minister has urged government agencies to reduce theirwater usage by 10 percent, and disclosed the initial water managementplan will focus on the management of water consumption and floodprevention.

The Director-General of the Department of WaterResources (DWR) Jatuporn Buruspat has announced the outcome of the firstNational Water Resources Committee meeting, saying that the committeehas received a three phase water management plan for 2015-2026 from theWater Policy Committee, with the initial phase of 2015-2016 focusing onthe management of water consumption and flood prevention in urbancommunities in the Greater Bangkok Area.

The Prime Minister isreported to have emphasized these issues, while four possible solutionshave been put forward, namely a study of using raw water from thewestern area to substitute for water from the Chao Phraya River,suggested by the Royal Irrigation Department and the MetropolitanWaterworks Authority; the creation of a shortcut water course from theChao Phraya River to Sum Lae water pump station where the salt contentof water is examined; a study of the allocation of new raw water sourcesfor tap water production in Nakhon Nayok; and a study of the potentialuse of the dead water stored in Bhumibol and Sirikit Dams currentlyrunning to about 7,500 million cubic meters.

The meeting alsopresented water usage statistics for the Greater Bangkok Area where theMetropolitan Waterworks Authority supplies 49 percent of water tohouses, and the remaining 51 percent to government agencies, stateenterprises, and the industrial sector, 19 percent of which is for waterusage by government agencies.

On this matter, the PrimeMinister has ordered government agencies to cut their water usage by 10percent and report their water usage to the administrative sector in anattempt to become a water conservation model for the general public.

Discussionson the establishment of a sub-committee on issues such as water forconsumption, a new water sources survey, and conservative water use havealso taken place in this meeting.-VNA

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