Rice farmers told not to grow rice in low lying areas as water running low

Published on February 21, 2013 by TFP   ·   No Comments

BANGKOK, 20 February 2013 (NNT)-The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) has told farmers not to grow rice in the low lying areas of the Chao Phraya River as there is not enough water in the dams for irrigation.




The Water Assessment Center of the RID has revealed that there is only 23% of water left in both Bhumipol and Sirikit dams combined. And since the drought is expected to continue for another 2 months, farmers have been told not to grow out-of-season rice to prevent water shortages.




Even though the amount of water in reserves around Thailand amounts to 43.3 billion cubic meters or 62% of their total capacity, only 19.8 billion cubic meters is considered usable.




In the low lying areas of the Chao Phraya River, there are 2.6 billion cubic meters of usable water in Bhumipol dam, 1.7 billion cubic meters in Sirikit dam, around 537 million cubic meters in Kwae Noi Bumrungdan dam, and only 417 million cubic meters more in Pasakcholasit dam.

( Nuppol Suvansombut)

nbsp

nbsp

nbsp

Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/02/21/rice-farmers-told-not-to-grow-rice-in-low-lying-areas-as-water-running-low/