Water resources
Surface water
Thai Government adjusts water plan to battle drought
Thailand’s Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has adjusted its water distribution plan after the water in 10 main dams across the country receded to critical levels. Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chatchai Sarikulya said on 2 March the water discharge plan of each dam has been tweaked to cope with ...
Volunteer vessel to monitor for migrants in Andaman Sea
A ship, two rescue boats and a fleet of drones will be deployed in the Andaman Sea on 3 March to comb for migrants and monitor for smuggling vessels – and respond in case of a crisis. The Migrant Offshore Aid Station was launched by an ...
Locals ask court to cancel coal permits
Residents in Thailand’s Nakhon Laung district in Ayutthaya province have asked the Central Administrative Court to withdraw the operating permits given to 51 coal and fertiliser companies and 26 piers on the Pasak River. They argue they have failed to protect the communities’ health and environment ...
Mekong 'gravity' study under fire
A feasibility study on a proposal to build a tunnel diverting water from the Mekong River to the drought-stricken Northeast region will be wrapped up by year-end and will determine whether the multi-billion baht project is economically viable, a senior irrigation official says. Somkiat Prajamwong, director of the Project ...
Mekong reels from drought, saltwater
Drought and saltwater intrusion have worsened in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta this year, threatening rice crops and the daily life of residents. Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, said: “Saltwater intrusion [began in] November 2015, one and half months ...
The Mekong river: Damned if you do
The Mekong watershed nurtures extraordinary biodiversity, with new species of plants and animals discovered every year. It has also nurtured humans. Tens of millions of people—much of the population of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam—depend on the Mekong. Planners think the Mekong has a gift to give: hydropower. ...
Mekong diversion under way in Thailand
The Thai government’s planned diversion of billions of cubic metres of water from the Mekong River, described last week by a Thai Ministry of Water Resources representative as being as far as two years away, has already begun. The pumping, which is pulling water from the ...
Mekong pumps to ease Isan drought
Thailand’s Royal Irrigation Department has begun pumping water from the Mekong River and redirecting it to drought-afflicted regions of the Northeast. The RID has shied away from using the term “diverted”, instead saying only that it is “using” the water as it looks to bypass consultation ...
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 ...
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 ...
