Thailand remains at risk of floods until 2014

BANGKOK, January 31 (TNA) - A senior Thai water expert has cautioned that the country remains at risk of repeated floods over the next three years, but lessons learned from a worst flooding crisis late last year should attribute to authorities' improved solutions to flood-related problems this year. Pramote Maiklad, a member of the Thai government's Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management (SCWRM) and a former Royal Irrigation Department Director-General, assessed that official tasks on flood solutions would not be fully complete over the next years and the country could, therefore, face repeated inundations until 2014. Pramote insisted that the Thai government should, however, better deal with any flooding this year, as authorities concerned have learned from a worst flooding crisis late last year. Pramote voiced his support for the Royal Irrigation Department's water management policy on reserving 80-85 per cent of water at upstream areas of dams for farmers' use during the upcoming dry season, saying that a gradual release of water from the dams for local farming until May is foreseen to timely welcome the rainy season, as water levels at the dams will be then lower to cater new seasonal downpours. According to the senior expert, it is impossible to now release all water from the dams to be prepared for this year's rainy season, as reserved water is needed for power production, marine transport and agricultural use, as well as for ecological conservation. The senior water expert denied reports that he has quit the SCWRM, suggesting, however, that the SCWRM hold regular meetings to quickly work out Thailand's short-term and long-term flood prevention strategies, and that a single agency be mainly tasked with the government's water management plans for the sake of unified work and implementations for effective solutions. (TNA)