AYUTTHAYA, Jan 7 (TNA) – The Director-General of the Royal Irrigation Department has inspected the situation of seawater intrusion in Ayutthaya as the peak high tide has threatened quality of tap water production.
The Director-General of the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) has inspected water management in Ayutthaya in an attempt to solve higher salinity in tap water.
Drought has caused low water level in the main Chao Phraya River and it cannot keep out sea water during the high tide.
RID director-general, Thongplew Kongchan led officials to inspect water management at a water monitoring station and a sluice gate in Bang Sai district to check salinity levels during the high tide today.
The department is working to maintain ecology system in the three river basins — Chao Phraya, Tha Chin and Mae Klong to solve the problem of seawater intrusion in the Chao Phraya River, which affects tap water production.
To deal with the high tide from Jan 7-13, the RID has diverted water from the Tha Chin river into the Chao Phraya river through Phraya Banlue canal and installed 84 units of water pushing machines at 14 locations to keep out the sea water.
He then took a field trip to a raw water intake station of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority Tuesday afternoon.
The station pumps water from the Chao Phraya River for tap water production and distribution for Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan.
The salinity in raw water there was measured at one gramme/litre. The standard salt concentration of water for home supply should not exceed 0.25 grammes/litre. (TNA)
