Royal Household Bureau veterinarian Dr Alongkorn Mahanop warned the drought would force wild animals such as elephants to migrate outside the forest for food and water because of water scarcity in national parks. “The wild animals have already felt the effect of the drought and they will do anything in order to survive,” Alongkorn said.

He said the situation in Khao Yai National Park was very bad because hotels and resorts around Khao Yai used so much water from the forest and caused the water supply in rivers and streams to dry up. Some intelligent animals such as elephants can smell the water from far away so they will leave the forest and venture into resort areas.

“I predict that within a few months, we will encounter wild animal intrusions outside the forest area more often,” he said.

Khao Yai National Park chief Kanchit Srinoppawan said the park was looking at the water shortage in the forest and had already prepared plans to supply water to wild animals.

Kanchanaphan Khamhaeng, Kui Buri National Park chief, said his park had to provide water and food for wild animals to prevent them from migrating outside the national park.

“We face a serious drought this year and the water and food for wild animals is running short. Therefore, the national park has worked with a Royal Initiative Project to build 16 artificial concrete ponds for the animals in the national park area,” Kanchanaphan said. “Currently, we have already built 11 ponds, which have a radius of seven metres, are one metre deep and can hold 12,000 litres of water. Five other ponds are being built.”

He said that the ponds were at least 2.5 kilometres away from the private pineapple plantation outside the national park and a pasture was planted nearby to supply food for animals so they would not intrude into farm fields.

“The water will be refilled once every two days and cleaned by the military officers from the Royal Initiative Project,” he said.

However, Alongkorn warned the ponds could promote bacterial contamination in the soil, so the grounds should be examined every three to six months to prevent disease outbreaks.

A Khao San Road business leader says the Songkran Festival in April at the famous tourist area will not be affected by the government’s call for no “water wars” during the festival due to the drought situation.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Saturday urged Thais to celebrate Songkran this year via the traditional “rod nam dam hua” ceremony – the pouring of water over the hands of elders.

But Khao San Road Business Association president Piyabut Jiwaramonikul said there would be no change to this year’s Songkran celebration at one of the city’s largest sites for celebrating the festival.

“I don’t think Songkran celebrations for only three days will waste too much water because people usually enjoy the water wars by firing water guns, which need less amount of water than splashing water on each other,” Piyabut said. “I can assure the tourists and the people that they will have fun on Khao San Road this Songkran as always, as we still have water in Bangkok.”

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However, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Culture, Sport and Tourism Department director Pranee Sattayaprakop, stated the BMA would follow the government’s Songkran water policy.

“The BMA always encourages people to celebrate Songkran by practising the |rod nam dam hua ceremony instead of water wars, which not only preserves the beautiful Thai culture, but also fits in with the government’s plan to save water,” Pranee said.

She said that while the BMA hosted Songkran celebrations at each of the capital’s 50 district offices, it could not dictate how people used water, although she asked people not to be wasteful.

Surapong Tovichukchaikul, a former foreign minister in the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, said if the government did not supply water for celebrating Songkran for a few days, it would show that it had failed with its water management and had destroyed tourism during the festive season.

In relation to the latest on the drought situation, Nakon Ratchasima’s Phra Thongkham district has faced the most serious water shortage situation in the province, as no water is left for producing any tap water at all.

The mayor of Tambon Phra Thongkham in Phrathai Huai district, Isariya Panas-amporn, disclosed that the water supply in the district had dried up and the tambon |administration had to buy water from elsewhere.

As a result, the mayor said locals could only access water once every two days between 5pm and 7pm.

Isariya said 1,400 families, or more than 5,000 people, were affected, and the water supply with the tambon administration would last only three months.

If substantial rains did not fall before May, the people would be faced with a greater water shortage problem.

Wichian Chantaranothai, Nakhon Ratchasima governor, said the province had helped 43 villages that suffered from the drought by digging 27 wells to supply ground water.

Wichian said the Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office had assisted water trucks to deliver water for consumption.

The drought had also hit people in rural areas, with fishermen at the Chao Phraya Delta reporting that their catches are smaller and less abundant due to the rising salinity in the water.

Amnart Thongnu, a fisheries specialist in Samut Prakan, revealed that the salinity at the delta was increasing because less freshwater flowed into the sea and that affected brackish marine life.

“At the Chao Phraya River Delta, the salinity level is now 15 to 20 milligrams per litre, but if it rises beyond 30 milligrams per litre, it will cause a salinity crisis and the brackish water will cause the death of marine animals,” Amnart said.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is concerned about the drought and has asked for public cooperation in saving water, while waterworks authorities are controlling water supplies, Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday.

He said the government would soon campaign more to save water by asking the public to offer water blessings during Songkran instead of engaging in “water wars”.

Along with saving water, the premier wants to preserve the good tradition of the festival, he added.

Sansern reported that Prayut was scheduled to lead related ministers on a visit to the Northeast from March 16-18 to inspect drought-hit areas, possibly at Udon Thani and Nong Khai provinces.

The spokesman dismissed reports that the entire country was facing severe water shortages.

He said the Royal Irrigation Department reported there were 3 billion cubic metres of water in four major dams while there was enough water in dams for people’s general use and for maintaining dams’ bio-systems and for pushing out seawater along the Chao Phraya River basin area.

Sansern said most farmers knew there was insufficient water for agricultural purposes so those growing rice would be doing so at their own risk.

The spokesman admitted some areas had been hit by severe drought, with drought disaster zones declared in 46 districts of 12 provinces.

He said the Cabinet had approved drought-relief measures worth Bt93 billion via the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives to aid some 670,000 farmers.

He said the government would increase water supplies by launching royal rainmaking operations from March 1 in Chiang Mai, Phitsanulok, Nakhon Sawan, Kanchanaburi, Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima, Chanthaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Surat Thani provinces and by digging 2,000 wells in the Chao Phraya River basin area.

Hospital crisis

Meanwhile, Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Wichian Chantharanothai and his team yesterday visited the 30-bed Phra Thong Kham Hospital, which is suffering a serious water shortage. That is particularly the case for cleaning medical instruments and for patient use – both bathing and consumption.

Wichian said the installation of a Bt400,000 salt water filtering system at the hospital would be completed early next month and that should alleviate the problem.

The hospital receives 10,000 litres of water a week from two tambon administrations. It needs about 100 litres a day to wash medical equipment.

Wichian said that to find a long-term solution the provincial health office had approved Bt1.8 million to build a water-filter facility at the hospital.

In Nakhon Ratchasima’s Bua Yai district, many farmers have seen their rice paddies wither.

Ten districts in the province, including Bua Yai, have been declared drought-disaster zones.

It was reported that some 57,000 households and 466,000 rai (74,000 hectares) of farmland in the districts have been affected.

Irrigation Office 8 director Chitchanok Somprasert said water levels in the northeastern province’s five main dams were falling.

The Lam Takhong Dam is at 26 per cent of capacity, the Lam Phra Phloeng Dam is at 63 per cent of capacity, the Lam Chae reservoir 28 per cent, the Mun Bon reservoir at 27 per cent and the Lam Plai Mat Dam is at 50 per cent.

They are: 2 per cent of total of water needed, or 2,460 million cubic metres, is for human consumption; 3 per cent, or 2,396 million cubic metres, is for industry and tourism; 18 per cent, or 12,359 million cubic metres, is for environmental sustainability; and 71 per cent, or 53,034 million cubic metres, is for agricultural use. In the current first quarter 15,487 million cubic metres of water is expected to be used, although 20,733 million cubic metres had been predicted – the discrepancy blamed on poor water-distribution systems. He said that over the past two years 4 billion cubic metres of water had been used to combat drought.

Supoj Tovichak-chaikul, director-general of the Department of Water Resources unveiled a 10-year plan. It consists of six strategies – building water-supply systems for 1,888 villages; improving water resources; drilling artesian wells; dredging and cleaning canals; rehabilitating watershed forests; and establishing and integrating water management as a one-stop service gathering information.

The idea was floated yesterday at a seminar hosted by the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) where agricultural researchers from Israel introduced the fertigation technology – fertilising and watering plants using drip irrigation.

Naftali Lazarovitch – an Israeli scientist from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands – stated that the fertigation technique was a very efficient way to grow almost every kind of plant as it used less water and could increase yields.

He said the technology was developed because Israel’s arid conditions meant conventional farming was impossible in large parts of the country. “So 70 per cent of farmland in Israel uses drip irrigation and the other 30 per cent use sprinklers,” he said.

Uri Yermiyahu, a researcher from the Gilat Research Centre, said: “This technique can be implemented on almost every kind of plant and the fertilising via the dripping water allows the plant to use the fertiliser directly. However, the nature of each plant is different, so there has to be an adjustment in the fertigation technique to suit each kind of plant.”

NSTDA’s National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology technical officer, Wisara Chaisalee, had previously studied Israeli agriculture techniques. Wisara said the efficient use of water in Israeli farming turned deserts into food baskets and Thai farmers could learn to implement those techniques.

“This is another good choice for Thai farmers planting their crops during the drought, as it uses less water and the technology is not too expensive or too complex for ordinary farmers,” Wisara said.

“However, there are some limitations of this planting method, as it is too costly to adapt to a large field or some terrain, and it has to be adjusted to suit farming in Thailand.”

NSTDA president Thaweesak Koanantakool said in cooperation with Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, two Israeli experts would lead a field workshop on the fertigation technology in Lampang next week to show Thai academics, students and farmers how it was use it and how it could be adapted to Thailand’s farming environment.

The three steps are pumping water from sources to maintain levels in tap-water reservoirs – so far 32 million cubic metres has been pumped; digging groundwater wells; and dispatching 133 trucks to distribute water in local communities.

The 10 drought-hit districts are Kham Sakae Saeng, Khong, Bua Lai,

Kaeng Sanam Nang, Non Thai, Dan Khun Thot, Non Sung, Theparak, Phra Thongkham and Bua Yai. Water levels at three of the province’s five major dams are below 50-per-cent capacity. Lam Takong Dam is at 33 per cent capacity (96 million cubic metres), Lam Moon Bon at 30 per cent (40 million), and Lum Sae Dam 32 per cent (84 million). Lam Plai Mat Dam is faring little better, at 52 per cent capacity, or 46 million cubic metres.

Drought is also affecting the North, where many rice mills in Uttaradit province have temporarily shut down, as farmers can no longer grow crops, Uttaradit Rice Mills Association president Reungsak Tia-eiumdee said. Twelve large rice mills have been hit by a shortage of unhusked rice to feed their machines, he said.

The drought has forced many rice farmers to halt operations, while others have shifted to cultivating alternative crops. Mill operators have shuttered their businesses after being unable to pay production costs such as machinery maintenance, daily wages and long-term debts.

Uttaradit traditionally cultivates 600,000 rai of rainy-season rice and 400,000 rai of summer rice, yielding a total of at least 500,000 tonnes per year. But that figure shrank to 200,000 tonnes last year, which resulted in the temporary closure of seven mills, Reungsak said.

If this drought lasted until the rainy season, he added, Uttaradit would have only two privately run rice mills left operating. Reungsak warned that unless the government provided emergency aid in the form of low-interest loans or extension of loan repayments, they would permanently close.

Chalit Thanawat, whose family has operated Chok Thanawat Rice Mill in Tron district for 40 years, said that last year the mill was forced to cut workers’ hours by half because of a shortage of rice supplies in both growing seasons.

The decision contravenes the Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of theMekong River Basin, which was signed in 1995, because the Thai government has not asked for permission from the Mekong River Commission (MRC), according to NGO representatives.

The MRC is an inter-governmental organisation with riparian members Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Hannarong Yaowalers, chairman of Thai-Water Partnerships, said Thailand would be the first country to install water pumps along the Mekong River since 1995 if the government went ahead with the project.

Hannarong was responding to the Royal Irrigation Department’s construction of a pump station on the river in the Northeast.

Somkiat Prajamwong, director of the office of project management at the Royal Irrigation Department, described the project as urgent but added that it would be operational for just for three months to ease the drought from February to April.

“This is a Bt15-million project. Of that, Bt10 million is for construction and Bt5 million for electricity costs,” he said.

The irrigation department plans to divert water from the Mekong River 80 kilometres to Nong Khai’s Huai Luang water gate and then to the nearby Luang watercourse.

Somkiat said he expected the project to irrigate 300,000 rai (48,000 hectares) of farmland in Nong Khai and Udon Thani provinces.

“With such an amount of water [40 million cubic metres], we don’t have to inform the MRC. In addition, we will pump water only when the water level in the Mekong River is higher than the normal level compared to the dry season of previous years,” he added.

Hannarong responded that the MRC must be consulted regardless of the volume of water diverted.

Pianporn Deetes, Thailand campaign director of International Rivers, said Thailand should realise that the Mekong is a shared resource of six countries, including two of which are downstream.

“Any plan to pump, divert or use water from the Mekong by Thailand, especially when less water is available, will need to go through a regional process and comply with international laws and agreements,” she said.

Pianporn added that consultation with affected communities and trans-boundary impact assessments were also important.

Despite concerns expressed by NGOs, Thai authorities are planning more projects involving the river.

The temporary pumping project is just the first of three Mekong River Basin development schemes, which also include a Bt18-billion project to build pump stations in Nong Khai’s Phon Phisai district to channel water 80 kilometres to Songkram Basin in Udon Thani province.

The third scheme involves an even bigger project that requires an initial feasibility study. If the project goes ahead, Bt30 billion will be spent to divert water from the Mekong River Basin to Ubolratana Dam in Khon Kaen province, with plans to irrigate 1.3 million rai of farmland.

“The water in the Mekong River can be diverted as the project aims to pipe water to fill the Mun and Chi rivers, which are considered to be in the Mekong basin, ” Somkiat said. Pianporn said the Thai government had planned such large-scale projects for a long time.

“The government has used the ongoing drought crisis as an excuse to push ahead the schemes,” she said.