The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) on Monday assured that areas served by its network of irrigation canals will not experience water shortages, after forecasts predicted that this year's summer will be longer and drier because of the El Nino weather anomaly.
Despite the forecasts, the RID has worked to ensure that water reserves across the country will be enough to last until the rainy season begins in May, said RID director-general, Thongplew Kongchan.
"If the reserves are managed effectively, there should be more than enough water for human consumption and agricultural needs until the rains return," he said.
However, Mr Thongplew said that households should do their best to conserve water during the dry season, before advising rice farmers -- whose crops need to be constantly irrigated -- to avoid growing rice off-season.
"The RID is also closely monitoring water levels across the country's main rivers -- which include the Phetchaburi, Mae Klong, Chao Phraya, Pa Sak, and Bang Pakong rivers," he said.
Mr Thongplew said that the department is also watching out for signs of seawater intrusion because of the absence of rain upstream, and added that the RID is monitoring salinity levels across the rivers hourly until the end of the dry season, so it can intervene in a timely manner.
"Seawater intrusion does not only cause significant damage to farmland, but it also causes considerable harm to the ecosystem," he said.
The RID has sent out 4,850 teams to deal with seawater intrusion and water shortages in drought-prone areas, which include Ayutthaya, Phetchaburi and Songkhla, he said.
However, the provinces of Kanchanaburi, Chaiyaphum, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Sawan, Ratchaburi and Loei are not served by the RID's irrigation network, which means some shortage are likely to occur during this dry season, continued Mr Thongplew.
The RID has already put several measures in place to help mitigate the impact of the drought in these provinces, he said.
