After the floods, Thailand could face drought next year

Dec 10, 2011, 3:40 GMT

Bangkok - Parts of Thailand face the prospect of drought in the new year even as the country recovers from its worst floods in decades, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The floods might actually have exacerbated next year's threat of drought because massive amounts of water were drained, not stored, to alleviate the disaster, Anond Snidvongs, water management adviser to the country's Flood Relief Operations Command, told the Bangkok Post.

Dwindling water reserves are the problem and provinces not under the Royal Irrigation Department's system could run short of water, Anond was quoted as saying.

'The severe cold this year points to a drought crisis next year,' he said, adding that less water is also being stored to combat the dryness.

Dams and reservoirs normally store 6 billion to 7 billion cubic metres of water largely for agricultural purposes during the dry season, but Anond said the floods this year forced officials to drain up to 2 billion cubic metres of water from flooded areas.

The water reserve could potentially drop to 5 billion cubic metres by year's end and 4 billion cubic metres by the time the new rice season arrives.

Anond said the country still lacks an adequate management system to retain water supplies for all areas.