Ayeyarwady monitored as levels plummet
As the water level of the Ayeyarwady River is set to fall about 30 feet (9.1 metres) below its rainy-season peak, water authorities are sending out staff to camp out along the banks to help river traffic avoid running aground. Mandalay Region’s Department of Water Resources ...
Thailand begins water rationing in three provinces
Thailand’s Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) has begun rationing water in three provinces as the severity of the drought, expected to be far worse than last year, has started to affect tap water production. Ratana Kitchawan, the PWA’s director, on 20 January said three branches of the PWA are ...
Water shortage 'will hit after Songkran'
Conserving water must be made an urgent national priority to cope with a water shortage crisis expected to hit Thailand after Songkran if precautions are not taken, a consultancy firm says. Water stocks in four major reservoirs which are the main sources of water in the Chao ...
Donors slash funding for MRC
As disputes multiply over the use of the Mekong, including over planned upriver dams in Laos contested by Cambodia and Vietnam, and a newly unveiled Thai plan to divert water to its drought-ravaged farms, the body tasked with mediating among the four nations is losing ...
Canal repair reduces Yangon water supply
Householders in 19 Yangon city townships are being urged to store water as repair work proceeds on the canal that supplies much of the city’s water. The city’s Irrigation Department will be working on the canal between the Ngamoeyeik dam and the city’s Nyaunghnapin pumping station ...
Dammed if they don’t: Mekong countries face crucial choice
In the wake of COP 21 and a new global climate accord, now is the time for the countries of the Lower Mekong Basin to redouble their efforts to protect the rice bowl of Southeast Asia. This region is among the world’s most vulnerable to climate ...
Wastewater problem growing in Vientiane
Few households in Vientiane have installed treatment systems for their wastewater before it is discharged into drainage channels and collects in the city’s ponds and marshes. As it seems that many home owners in Vientiane don’t care about wastewater treatment or the quality of the water ...
'No dodging' EIA on water plan
The development of two controversial water diversion projects would comply with an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study requirements, the Thai government insists. Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Gen Chatchai Sarikulya said on 12 January the government wants to study the prospects of diverting water from rivers forming a ...
Thai Government set to divert water from key rivers
The Thai government plans to divert water from rivers which form natural boundaries with Thailand’s neighbours into major dams in a long-term measure to battle drought. Suphot Tovichakchaikul, chief of the Department of Water Resources, said on 11 January that aside from the country’s local sources, water ...
Authorities move to clear squatters from town water supply
Pyin Oo Lwin officials are cracking down on forest dwellers squatting near a road construction site alongside the city’s only water supply. The township’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Forestry blamed the squatters around Lake Thit Ta Pin Taung for causing forest degradation by lighting forest ...
