The problem that has been diagnosed is significant mismanagement of water stored in critical dams. The ministry now pledges to overhaul water policies and management. He spoke to The Nation’s Piyaporn Wongruang about what has gone wrong with water management and why it has become a problem recently.

What situation are we facing now? Is it a water crisis yet in your view?

I don’t want to blow this up, but to understand what we are facing at present, we may need to go back to the beginning. You may remember that in 2011 we suffered major flooding, and because we feared that we would encounter such a situation again, we significantly adjusted the regulation of water stored in major dams.

Greater volumes of water were released to leave more room at dams for rainwater, but what happened afterwards is that we instead were hit by unusually dry weather and then El Nino. That resulted in consecutive sharp reductions in the water stored at the country’s major dams.

At the end of last year, we had around 4,000 million cubic metres of usable water stored at four major dams feeding the country’s Central plain of Chao Phraya, which dropped to less than half the amount we were supposed to have at the beginning of the dry season.

What did you do after learning about this critical causal factor?

As we looked at the Chao Phraya basin and our water supply in the dams, we prioritised our water usage and gave importance to only three main priorities, which were consumption, ecological maintenance and agriculture.

Now, with the limited amount of water that we have, we are able to release about 18 million cubic metres a day, and water for agricultural purposes in the basin had to be cut off.

However, I would like to assure people in the basin that this directive will help them, and the same is true for Mae Khlong nearby, to get through hard times until the end of July.

What about other regions?

Apart from these two basins, we have allowed committees at the provincial level to help to manage water resources in the areas, and if the problem is beyond their capability, they can ask for assistance at the national level, including from agencies like the Irrigation Department.

That’s happening at Ubon Rat in Khon Kaen province, where water is close to a critical level, and a decision to draw water from the dead storage was needed.

At this point, we have seen reports that at least 10 dams in other regions will see usable water hit critical levels, and urgent measures including the tapping of dead storage water may be applied. The farm sector may see trouble ahead, but again I would like to assure people that water for consumption will be available due to tight water regulations.

Are there areas that are not being irrigated? How do you help to deal with problems in these areas?

There are large areas that are still outside irrigation, even in areas where there are reservoirs. So far the Interior Ministry has declared 15 provinces disaster areas. Forty-two more provinces could follow, based on our monitoring, and we have been coordinating to deliver assistance to people with consumption set as the highest priority.

Measures include water delivery by trucks, which is the best we can do. In addition, the ministry has eight key measures to help relieve economic suffering including providing dry season employment for farmers.

Those involved in water management issues have known for some time that politics played a role in mismanagement. How do you see this?

I don’t want to point a finger at anyone, but it’s clear that now we must focus on benefiting people. The national committee reports to the Cabinet prospective resolutions for major changes in water management.

We have committees governing water at three different levels – national, provincial and local – and I think we have sufficient mechanisms to oversee our water. We just need them to function effectively along with proper water planning.

I don’t think you can say that we centralise water management too much, and thus have been ineffective. What we have have shown is that we are not working alone – water regulation and responsibilities have been decentralised.

Last but not least, we need to look more at demand-side management. The ministry is trying to come up with a map matching farm areas with water resources so farmers will know what crops are best to grow. That’s something newly introduced, but at the end it’s all about all water usage, having more awareness about water issues and cooperation. Water is limited resource and you need to help to save it.