Office manager Noppadol Phumkanpai led the media to inspect one of the reservoirs covering 600 rai on Saturday to dismiss a previous report that the raw water supply would last only up to 100 days, suggesting that the provincial governor would have to find other water sources to tackle the crisis.

Noppadol said such “twisted facts” had caused alarm to the local people and affected their lifestyle.

He said the three reservoirs, as of Friday, contained more than 3.12 million cubic metres and could supply tap water to people for 124 days while there were also a large amount of raw water in the Mul River to refill them.

In addition, the office had signed an agreement to get another three million cubic metres of raw water from the Khon Buri district’s Lam Sae Dam via a pipeline system if necessary.

The office supplied water to 28,0000 households in three tambons of Khok Sung, Jor Hor and Hua Tha-le in Chalerm Prakiat and Muang districts at 250,000 cubic metres a day.

In Phichit’s Sam Ngam district, the Yom River section in Ban Rai Chado had nearly run dry, so the electricity pump station that supplied water to rice farmers on the western side of river had to suspend its operation throughout the drought season.

This would maintain the river’s ecosystem and allow residents to use and consume the remaining water. The operation would then resume when the rainy season began.