Water plan to tackle many problems

[webfact]

Water plan to tackle many problems

By The Nation

 

File photo

 

Twenty-year plan sets clear goals for management of resources

 

THE CABINET has approved a 20-year master plan for water-management and water-disaster prevention. The 2018-2037 national plan was passed with the aim of providing wider access to clean drinking water, an expansion in irrigation infrastructure and areas under irrigation, and preventing floods and droughts in core economic areas.

 

Somkiat Prajumwong, secretary-general of the Office of National Water Resources (ONWR), said yesterday that the 20-year master plan provides water-resource management guidelines for all related agencies.

 

He said the plan is divided into water for domestic consumption, stable water supply, disaster prevention, conservation of resources, restoring forest water sources, and water resource administration and management.

 

He said the government has set the goal of ensuring that 75,032 more villages have access to clean drinking water by 2030, expand water reserves by 27.299 billion cubic metres, expand irrigation to 31 million rai (4.96 million hectares) and develop 10,000 water sources for agriculture.

 

To achieve the water-disaster mitigation goal, 764 core economic areas and 15 million rai |of land must be protected from floods and drought, while 741 new wastewater treatment facilities must be built to tackle |the water-pollution problem.

 

Somkiat said the 20-year blueprint also aims to restore 3.5 million rai of forest water and construct 541,894 weirs as ways to conserve water.

 

“The ONWR will be the core administrative agency to implement the 20-year master plan as well as monitor and assess the operation of each related agency to make sure that all the water-resource management goals will be achieved,” he said.

 

“This new master plan has clear targets to systematically tackle all water problems, for which we are going to work in collaboration not only with related official agencies, but also the private sector and local communities.” 

 

Meanwhile, Kasetsart Univer-sity’s engineering professor Sitang Pilailar said she was optimistic about the plan as it made related authorities focus on water-resource management and provide them with a framework to follow. 

 

However, she pointed out that since the Water Resource Act is already in effect, the ONWR is drafting water-management strategies for every water basin.

 

“We need to ensure that all stakeholders, especially the locals have a chance to get involved in water-management strategy |in their locality to guarantee that the strategy suits the local demand and type of water usage,” she said. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30371331

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-06-19

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[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

THE CABINET has approved a 20-year master plan for water-management and water-disaster prevention. The 2018-2037 national plan was passed with the aim of providing wider access to clean drinking water, an expansion in irrigation infrastructure and areas under irrigation, and preventing floods and droughts in core economic areas.

It sounds on the face of it like forward-planning is ahead, which does seem surprising to me.

 

I'm sure there will be plenty of critics who will spot shortcomings. If they are seen to be criticising the 20-year master plan it for the sake of it, will they be seen as master-baiters?

 

[khwaibah]

So its fork off isaan again.????

[mikebell]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

the plan is divided into water

Two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen.  Siphon off all the oxygen atoms; ship them to Chiang Mai; kill two birds with one stone.

[Lungstib]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

restoring forest water sources,

A 20 year plan sounds fine until you look at the above problem which would require restoring the disappeared forests. Its also interesting to note that International news is full of horror stories of melting ice and rising sea levels which get no mention in Thailands world of coal fired power stations. 

[geoffbezoz]

Of course the cost of a single weir is variable based on many factors such as waterway width, flow, geography, sub strata etc etc etc.  However let's just assume a very low cost estimate of 150,000 baht per location. Others may say it is a much lower average whilst conversely some will say higher.

 

So the statement in the "masterplan" was " construct 541,894 weirs " and presumably as no timescale was placed on their construction that would be phased over the 20 year period.  So total cost would be  8,128,4100,000. We know that such projects always have been subject to wanton corruption and will no doubt be increasingly so under the current regime, of that total 30% will be skimmed off as a minimum so that equates to  23,447,336 baht per week being skimmed continuously over a 20 year period. 

 

Payback for those supporting  the new Junta perhaps ?  Can't wait for the next 20 year project to be announced.

[bluesofa]

26 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

So its fork off isaan again.????

I thought exactly the same when I saw "and preventing floods and droughts in core economic areas."

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Ok lets start at the begining. After the 2011 flood the YS government asked for proposals from international and local companies to develop a water management system. Before the coup the government approved K water (Korean water) as one of the companies to develop such a system. After the coup the junta canceled this appointment and used the B 35 bn that was earmarked for the water management system as well as urgent work that needed to be done to prevent future floods for (drum roll) drought relief. The same people (about 16 government departments and agencies involved with water management in the country) that have never been able to develop an effective water management system in all of history are now putting a 20 yr plan on the table. Sorry but I am sceptical. Just as a foot note. The late king had a plan to prevent flooding (not the normal type but like 2011) of Bkk. This plan was incorporated in a plan by the YS government. The plan was to build a massive water run off areas on the western and eastern side of Bkk. To implement this plan however the government had to buy land and people would have to be moved. The Democrats used this as a political tool and protests followed (just before the 2013 Bkk protest started), which prevented the plan from being implemented. So next time when we have a 2011 type flood ask the Democrats (if they still exist) if they can remember what they did.

It sounds on the face of it like forward-planning is ahead, which does seem surprising to me.
 
I'm sure there will be plenty of critics who will spot shortcomings. If they are seen to be criticising the 20-year master plan it for the sake of it, will they be seen as master-baiters?
 

Sent from my SM-A730F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[owl sees all]

4 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Of course the cost of a single weir is variable based on many factors such as waterway width, flow, geography, sub strata etc etc etc.  However let's just assume a very low cost estimate of 150,000 baht per location. Others may say it is a much lower average whilst conversely some will say higher.

 

So the statement in the "masterplan" was " construct 541,894 weirs " and presumably as no timescale was placed on their construction that would be phased over the 20 year period.  So total cost would be  8,128,4100,000. We know that such projects always have been subject to wanton corruption and will no doubt be increasingly so under the current regime, of that total 30% will be skimmed off as a minimum so that equates to  23,447,336 baht per week being skimmed continuously over a 20 year period. 

 

Payback for those supporting  the new Junta perhaps ?  Can't wait for the next 20 year project to be announced.

Agreed.

 

The figure that gets me thinking is "541894"; precisely. I'll be looking out for that lottery number next time.

 

The whole thing is just marks on bits of paper.

 

541894 weirs!!?? That's more than 74 a day, every day, for 20 years.

[bkkbudddy]

Greetings, 

 

Same old news every year!

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

THE CABINET has approved a 20-year master plan for water-management and water-disaster prevention. The 2018-2037 national plan was passed with the aim of providing wider access to clean drinking water, an expansion in irrigation infrastructure and areas under irrigation, and preventing floods and droughts in core economic areas.

The latest of many plans.

[bluesofa]

4 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

The latest of many plans.

Very true. Sad that so few seem to come to fruition.

 

I see the 'high speed' railway is still on track to be completed within two years.

<end of sarcasm mode>

[owl sees all]

20 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Very true. Sad that so few seem to come to fruition.

 

I see the 'high speed' railway is still on track to be completed within two years.

<end of sarcasm mode>

Speaking of ;high speed' trains.

 

Just after the Military got in, a representative from the NEW government had our village captivated with talk of the new high speed train that would see Nong Khai to BKK in just a couple of hours. I sat and listened - although not understanding a word - along with a hundred others, 

 

During the short Q & A bit, I said quietly to Mrs Owl 'ask if they going to "keep the same single track and are they going to have trains going in both directions at the same time?"' She asked. And after the answer, she told me "YES!"

 

Finished the talk with playing the Thai anthem. Very professional presentation it was.

 

[essox essox]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

The latest of many plans.

Just like tram/monorail in Pattya....will never happen...pigs will fly first....

[Assurancetourix]

1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

I said quietly to Mrs Owl 'ask if they going to "keep the same single track and are they going to have trains going in both directions at the same time?"' She asked. And after the answer, she told me "YES!"

 

In South East Asia you should never ask two questions in the same sentence;
do the same test in Vietnam; you will have the same answer:
YES which will be the answer to the first question and nothing to the second which will be completely lost ...

You ask a question, you wait for the answer;
then you ask a second question and you wait for the answer,
And so on ...

[essox essox]

2 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Very true. Sad that so few seem to come to fruition.

 

I see the 'high speed' railway is still on track to be completed within two years.

<end of sarcasm mode>

stop being nasty.....they have to come up with new projects to line their pockets !! which TRACK are you talking about?? there are NO tracks YET !!

[bluesofa]

34 minutes ago, essox essox said:

stop being nasty.....they have to come up with new projects to line their pockets !! which TRACK are you talking about?? there are NO tracks YET !!

There is, there is! I think it's a couple of hundred metres the last time I saw a news article about it.