Thai well-diggers busy in drought

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Thai well-diggers busy in drought 
Bangkok Post: 1 Apr 2010
DROUGHT
Artesian well-makers do roaring trade in Big Dry

PHICHIT : Rice farmers whose paddy fields have turned arid in the drought are bolstering the artesian well-making business in this province as they turn to underground water for their survival.

More than 2,000 farmers have put in orders to build wells with 10 local well-makers, who are booked out until the end of this month, Anan Prodontri, a natural resource and environment official for Phichit, said yesterday.

He said the farmers could dig wells without the need to ask for permission if the wells were not more than 30 metres deep and 10cm in diameter.

However, he said, they had to make sure the water would not be contaminated by chemicals or filth.

Well-maker Boonchuay Jachern, 50, said he learned how to dig wells when he worked for the Provincial Waterworks Authority 20 years ago.

He had to consider whether target locations were close to natural water sources, and whether farmers already had wells which were not producing underground water.

"I can locate underground water with 95% accuracy," Mr Boonchuay said.

Farmers pay him at least 30,000 baht, which includes equipment and pumps, he said.

Siwanat Paepayom, 42, a farmer in Muang district, said he needed a well to feed his off-season paddy field.

Twelve districts in Phichit have been declared disaster zones in the drought, Mr Anan said. Fifty-seven provinces are suffering a water shortage.

In the Northeast, 61 districts in Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Buri Ram and Surin have been declared disaster zones, said Wanrope Theppakdee, director of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Regional Centre.

The unusually dry weather has damaged nearly 20,000 rai of farmland, according to the latest survey.

In Ayutthaya, six districts have been hit by the drought. Governor Witthaya Phiewphong said the province initially solved the problem by pumping water from rivers to canals, which would send water to farmland in the afflicted districts.

However, Maitri Pitinon, director for Ayutthaya's irrigation project, warned rice farmers against carrying out off-season farming in the summer.

The province had been given only 508 million cubic metres of water for agriculture, which was not enough for 600,000 rai of off-season paddy fields.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/35360/artesian-well-makers-do-roaring-trade-in-big-dry