Thailand's new water management expected in 2012

BANGKOK, December 30 (TNA) - The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives plans to submit Thailand's new water management program, incorporating every dam nationwide, to cope with the rainy season next year to a government panel in January 2012. Thai Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Theera Wongsamut told journalists on Friday that his ministry plans to solve the country's inundation problem in 2012 by introducing its newly-tailored water management program and properly improving water allocation from all dams throughout the country. Theera insisted that the new program will be submitted to the government's Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management (SCWRM) in January 2012. The SCWRM has been set up by the government, following this year's flooding crisis over the past couple of months. Theera said that his ministry has been assigned by the government to administer and allocate water from dams for utmost utilisation in order to solve flood crux, noting that repairs on damaged water pump stations will also be made and they will probably be complete within more than a year. According to the minister, his ministry is also looking for additional water retaining areas, as well as improving waterways to solve the problem of repeated floods in the country on the sustainable basis. (TNA)