Chiang Mai assured of sufficient water supply until June

CHIANG MAI, 18 April 2016 (NNT) – The water supply in Chaing Mai Province will be sufficient for general public usage until the end of June, the vice governor has assured residents of the province.

Vice Governor of Chiang Mai Province, Mongkol Sooksai said that during the present drought, each district will be supplied with a 500,000 baht budget to help relieve the situation in addition to the 10.6 million baht budget previously approved for proactive measures, and 1.2 million baht agricultural aid budget.

He confirmed that the province has received support from government agencies that have provided water trucks to deliver water for consumption by the general public, as well as enabling the drilling of 30 groundwater wells, and the delivery of sand bags to be used as temporary dykes to retain water in some areas.

Chiang Mai Province is now receiving water from Mae Ngat Dam, where water availability is just 70 million cubic meters, and water for consumption purposes can only be obtained at a weekly rate of 1.73 million cubic meters.

The vice governor said however that the dam released 2.07 million cubic meters of water last Friday for the Songkran celebrations, and an additional 2 million cubic meters on 15th April to resupply water to the Ping River and to other areas in the province. This allocation was not included in the regular water release intervals.

In all, 40,000 households in 314 villages within 13 districts of Chiang Mai Province are in an area declared a drought disaster zone, affecting about 100,000 people, 44,000 rai of farm land, 2,000 cattle, and fish in 72 fishing baskets.

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