RAYONG: The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) is planning to fill the Prasae Reservoir with water to anticipate a possible worsening dry spell in the Eastern region this month.
According to the department, the drought situation in the region has not improved. Therefore, RID director-general Praphit Chanma held a discussion at the reservoir with regional Royal Irrigation Offices on how to approach the problem.
Mr Praphit said the El Nino weather phenomenon could mean a dry spell from the middle of this month to mid-July, which could lead to water shortages and a worsening drought situation.
Before the meeting, regional irrigation officials had been ordered to come up with a plan to prevent the situation from affecting water production for both consumption and industrial use, he said.
The Eastern Economic Corridor needs 1.2 million cubic metres of water per day, he noted.
"We insisted that they keep up with their water diversion plans to save extra water for the drought," Mr Praphit said.
"We also ordered them to devise a backup plan... including [deploying] pumps or water trucks, as well as regularly check irrigation building equipment."
One plan under the Royal Irrigation Office 9 aims to pump at least 470,000 cu/m of water from Khlong Saphan to the reservoir every day, he said.
With this, the reservoir currently holds 196 million cu/m of water at the moment, at 67% capacity, he said.
Tinnakorn Lhualon, the office's director, said it began pumping water on Friday and will continue to do so until the next rainy season.
Regular discussions with the Prasae Joint Management Committee for Irrigation and the Keyman Water War Room will also be held to develop the plan further, he said.
