Pattaya May Be Hit By Water Shortages - Again

[Gaybutton]

For the past few months the weather in Pattaya has been beautiful. Cooler temperatures, nice breezes, low humidity, and hardly a drop of rain.

 

That's the trouble. Two years ago, during the summer dry season nearly all of Pattaya was hit by severe water shortages when the reservoir finally went dry. For months, the only way to get water was to buy it from the water trucks. If you lived in a house with no water tank, then you had no water at all. At my home, my usual water bill runs about 100 baht per month. During those dry months it was necessary to have the trucks refill my water tank at least two to three times per week. The cost of one refill was 150 baht. I have no idea what it would cost this year if it comes to that.

 

The way it works is large tankers bring water in from Sattahip and Rayong, neither of which is very far from Pattaya. The water trucks get their supply from those tankers and then resell it at the going rate.

 

Even now, there are several areas of Pattaya and vicinity that get no water at all, and they haven't had any for months. The water company's excuse is a major pump broke down and they are waiting for a new one to come in from Hong Kong, or Singapore, or wherever. It's been at least six months. They could have built a factory and manufactured their own pump by now. Victims of this are furious because of the inconvenience of having to get their water from the trucks, let alone the cost. Obviously, the water company's foresight and planning leaves, shall we say, something to be desired.

 

After the water shortage fiasco a couple years ago, all kinds of promises were made that steps would be taken to see that such a problem could never happen again. Major water pipes were supposed to be installed from far away, areas where water is always plentiful, to be piped to Pattaya. The local reservoir was to be dredged out to allow for much more water to be stored. Needless to say, neither ever happened. As far as I can tell, the reservoir is just the same now as it was two years ago. The water piping was never completed. I suppose the powers-that-be decided to just trust to luck that there would be plenty of rain to assure this problem can't happen again. Based on the weather lately, their luck is running out fast. Meanwhile, for the past two years we've all been given assurances that there will never again be a water shortage in Pattaya. Ok . . .

 

The average tourist has nothing to worry about. All the popular hotels have water tanks and they don't let them run dry. You won't need to change your travel plans if a water shortage occurs again.

 

So, how is Pattaya preparing for the worst? A campaign to get people to install water tanks and keeping water trucks on standby 24 hours a day. Well, thanks a lot Mr. Mayor and water company. That's certainly reassuring . . .

 

The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS:

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Water Shortage Preparation Meeting

 

On Friday Morning at Pattaya City hall, Khun Niran, the Mayor of Pattaya chaired a meeting to prepare for the forthcoming summer months which often lead to water shortages around the City. This year, the Mayor would like to prepare for the potential water supply problems and this meeting discussed ways in which they will do this.

 

A public campaign to save water and to install water tanks will take place. There will also be water trucks on standby 24 hours a day to deal with any emergency water supply problems.

 

The Mayor did mention that the Maprachan Reservoir is suffering from months of no rain and the situation could become worse in the coming months.

 

[Guest]

Do you think this is a conspiracy? Do you think this is just another way for someone to make money? 6 months for an area without water? That just sounds impossible to me.

[Gaybutton]

Do you think this is a conspiracy? Do you think this is just another way for someone to make money? 6 months for an area without water? That just sounds impossible to me.

 

Actually, it may be even longer than that. I don't see it as a conspiracy or someone trying to make money. I see it as a lack of foresight and planning. In my own neighborhood, so far I've been lucky. All the water I want. But just a few blocks away, that's one area where people are getting nothing. One of the things the water company has been saying, according to the media, is they can't supply enough pressure to provide water until the pump is repaired because some areas are on a hill. My home is on a hill and I have had no water problem at all.

 

Sometimes people are supplied intermittently. Letters-to-the-editor are common from people who aren't getting water. The most recent letter-to-the-editor in the PATTAYA MAIL appeared in the January 18 edition:

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http://www.pattayamail.com/755/letters.shtml#hd7

 

Editor;

 

I am writing to you regarding the continuous problem of town water off Soi Country Club across from Lake Mabprachan. I have a house with my Thai wife in Eastern Park across from Lake Mabprachan on Soi Country Club.

 

1. What is annoying is that the water board is doing nothing in terms of telling their customers what the problem is. Example: last month out of a total of 30 days I received water in about 5 of those days. They are quick to demand payment (245 baht, company house rates), but the service is terrible. In the end I have to buy water to maintain a certain standard of living (shower, cleaning and bathroom facilities).

 

What I would like you to do is write about this and see if the water authorities will wake up.

[Guest buaseng]

"A public campaign to save water and to install water tanks will take place. There will also be water trucks on standby 24 hours a day to deal with any emergency water supply problems.

 

The Mayor did mention that the Maprachan Reservoir is suffering from months of no rain and the situation could become worse in the coming months".

They could go a very long way to solving the problem at a stroke if they banned the throwing of water during the annual Songkran festival! The millions of gallons of water wasted during this short period by mindless morons would probably fill the Maprachan Reservoir .

 

[Gaybutton]

They could go a very long way to solving the problem at a stroke if they banned the throwing of water during the annual Songkran festival!

 

I may be wrong, but I seem to recall something about the city considering just that the last time there was a water shortage, or limiting it to only one day, but it never happened.

 

Naturally, just today Pattaya and surrounding areas had quite a downpour. I don't know whether it finally rained, and rained hard, because I started this thread or because I just had my car washed. I'll bet it was one or the other . . .

 

That's the secret. If Pattaya or anywhere else is in need of water, they don't need pipelines or even a rain dance. They only need for me to wash my car. It never fails. I wash my car and within 24 hours it's sure to rain. I'll bet if I lived in the Sahara Desert, all that would be needed to bring on the rain would be for me to have a car and get it washed.

[Guest buaseng]

I may be wrong, but I seem to recall something about the city considering just that the last time there was a water shortage, or limiting it to only one day, but it never happened.

I too remember the City fathers floating that idea (no pun intended ) a couple of years ago but there was apparently such a large outcry about tampering with the nation's culture and history that it was quickly forgotten.

[Gaybutton]

there was apparently such a large outcry about tampering with the nation's culture and history that it was quickly forgotten.

 

That makes about as much sense as most of what the powers-that-be come up with. In just about everywhere else in Thailand the water splashing lasts one day. Pattaya is the only city I know of in which the water splashing goes on for an entire week. When Pattaya was suffering through the severe drought, most of the central and northern areas of Thailand were getting torrential rains. The last thing they needed to do was conserve water. The water splashing in those areas lasted one day. In Pattaya, where a terrible water shortage was happening, the water splashing lasted a week. Welcome to Thailand . . .

[Bob]

While perhaps of some use symbolically, the notion that there is any signifcant addition to the water shortage because of the Songkran water throwing is a bit ridiculous.

 

Doesn't everybody remember the stories about the water pipelines coming to the resevoirs? And then finding out a year later that they hadn't even started building the damn things? Only in Thailand! (tit)

 

If they had half a brain, they'd put in a pipeline from Bangkok (or north of Bangkok) to the current resevoir in Pattaya (and perhaps to even new ones they would build). Every single year, there is excess water in the north that ultimately floods the central part of Thailand and, at times, parts of Bangkok. They could solve Pattaya's water problem that way and, perhaps, help alleviate the annual flooding.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

It is 6 p.m. in Pattaya on Monday, and it is raining quite heavy...and has been raining most of the day. I guess the solutionn to Pattaya's water shortage is for us to dicusss a shortage...and Gaybutton wash his car. Bet there have been less sucessful methods tried!!!

[Gaybutton]

If they had half a brain, they'd put in a pipeline from Bangkok (or north of Bangkok) to the current reservoir in Pattaya (and perhaps to even new ones they would build).

 

That's just the problem. It will never happen. That's because it would make sense. Sometimes I really think there must be a law that says something to the effect of "If it makes sense, then don't do it that way." That goes hand-in-hand with the other law: "If it ain't broke, break it."