“We are requesting cooperation from the public to save water,” Mayor Somjai said.
“From January-April every year, we have dry conditions,” she added.
Mayor Somjai explained that Phuket City Municipality provides tap water to more than 18,096 residences in Phuket Town and nearby areas and admitted that water reserves were lower than usual for this time of year, but also called on residents to not panic.
“There is no crisis yet because we use three water-supply systems connected together that can supply 23,000 cubic meters of water each day,” Mayor Somjai explained.
“The municipality uses municipal water supplies, private tin mining lagoons and Bang Wad Reservoir to provide tap water,” she said.
Bang Wad Reservoir currently contains about 4,090,596 m3 of water; municipality raw water sources contain about 657,161 m3; Suan Luang Park lake contains about 159,998 m3; a lake near Vachira Phuket Hospital contains about 126,005 m3; the lake along Soi Pha-niang contains about 175,000 m3; Mayor Somjai explained.
“However, if there is no rain for a long time, or the raw water sources run too low, Phuket City Municipality has prepared a plan to prevent water shortages,” she said.
In addition to staging a campaign for people to conserve water use and report any broken pipes in the area so they can be repaired quickly, the municipality is prepared to introduce water rationing, Mayor Somjai noted.
“If the amount of raw water is not enough, Phuket City Municipality will have to reduce the water using pressure from 10am to 5pm and from 10pm to 5am each day,” she explained.
“This may cause people in some areas, such as far from water-supply points or in high areas, to have less water and possibly no water flowing at some times,” she said.
“If people do need urgent supply of water, please call the (Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation) DDPM hotline 199 or Phuket City Municipality at 076-211111 or the Phuket City Municipality hotline 1132 for help.
“Water distribution points will be set up at three locations in Phuket Town: 1) DDPM office on Kra Rd; 2) DDPM office near the corner of Soi Pha-niang and Yaowarat Rd; and 3) Phuket City Water Plant at Suan Luang Park.
“We ask for cooperation from all the people to save water and keep a container of water to use during any water outages.
“And please notify the Water Supply Division at Phuket City Municipality at 076-211130 if you see any broken water mains,” she urged.
Meanwhile, Prapan Kanprasang, Chief of the Phuket provincial DDPM office (DDPM-Phuket), stressed to The Phuket News yesterday (Feb 20) that Phuket had not yet been officially declared amid a “drought”.
However, Mr Prapan admitted that a “drought plan” had been drawn up and was to be presented to Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana soon.