The order to implement water rations, directly affecting Moo 2, 3 and 5 of Cherng Talay, was introduced with immediate effect on Tuesday by a directive issued by Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) Chief MaAnn Samran.
“During the dry season, there is less water to replenish water supplies. This leads to having not enough water that people need to use,” Mr MaAnn said in his statement announcing the water restrictions.
Mr MaAnn urged residents to use as little water as possible and to keep water reserves in containers for use when mains water supply is not available.
The water ration measures directly affected Moo 2, Moo 3 and Moo 5 Cherng Talay, which are all in the Bang Tao beach area. (See story here.)
“If you see a pipe water broken or damaged, please inform the Cherng Talay OrBorTor at 076-271096-7,” Mr MaAnn urged.
“If there are any changes (to the scheduled water rationing), Cherng Talay OrBorTor will make further announcements,” he added.
The warnings for local residents in the Cherng Talay and Srisoonthorn areas to start using water more sparing were first unveiled by a report by The Phuket News in November.
At that time, Somsawat Chaisinsod, Director of Phuket Provincial Irrigation Office, explained that the Bang Neow Dum reservoir contained only about 3.25 million cubic meters.
The reservoir's full capacity is 7.2mn cubic meters.
"Of that, we are able to use only 3.14mn cubic meters as 0.11mn cubic meters of that capacity is useless. It’s just mud, which we can’t use,” Mr Somsawat explained.
“We need about 5mn cubic meters – or about 70% of the reservoir’s capacity – by the end of December to cope with the demand during the dry season (December-April),” he warned.
“My advice is for people and businesses in the affected areas to start storing water reserves so they can use it for their own needs in the first few months of 2019.
This week, Mr Somsawat confirmed that the reservoir is currently about 2.3mn cubic meters of water, or just less than 32% full. That reading was taken on Monday (Jan 21).
Mr Somsawat declined to confirm or deny whether the forced water restrictions were at his request.
Instead, he explained that a plan for water-saving measures "was given to" the Phuket Provincial Water Authority office, who "modified the plan by themselves”.
"The plan will conserve water supplies for people until April 2019. That’s the plan," he said.
“Bang Neow Dum reservoir just needs 3 million cubic meters to be enough for the dry season this year, but we don’t have that much water in the reservoir," he pointed out blankly.
Mr Somsawat noted that plans were being drawn up to counter the problem, but declined to reveal any details.
“I can’t tell you about the plan in detail yet. I will check the water level again at the end of January, then I will present the plan to the Provincial Water Authority (PWA)," he said.
“It is the PWA's responsibility to manage water supply to be enough to serve local residents,” Mr Somsawat said guardedly.
That understanding, however, flies in the face of the duties and responsibilities listed on the Royal Irrigation Department website, which plainly states as the top priority: "1. Implementation of activities aimed at achieving, collecting, storing, controlling, distributing, draining or allocating water for agricultural, energy, household consumption or industrial purposes under irrigation laws, ditch and dike laws and other related laws."
Meanwhile, Thamdongrak Kumphet, the Phuket Provincial Water Authority (PWA) official responsible for water supply, flatly denied that the PWA had called for any rationing of water supply.
“We have not had any ideas to limit water supply. Our plan is to source water from privately owned water sources. We will have meeting to talk about this issue next month,” he said on Tuesday.
Regardless, Mr Somsawat warned that water supply issues in the area will not go away, especially considering the growth in developments in the area, specifically in Srisoonthorn, Baan Manik and Cherng Talay.
“Phuket residents use of a lot of water, and presently the reservoir is not enough for residents and businesses specifically in the nearby areas," he said.
"We will need the reservoir to be more than 80% full to make it through the next dry season," he said.
"I think Phuket province needs an extra reservoir, and soon. If there isn't one, residents won’t have enough water supply."
A long-term solution is in the works, Mr Somsawat noted.
"We have had a long-term plan that was created 10 years ago. It will help Phuket to have enough water in the future. I am checking the documents to present to the Director-General of The Royal Irrigation Department in Bangkok in February.
“I will present this issue. We don’t have water enough here," he said.
Again, Mr Somsawat declined to reveal any details of the long-term solution to Phuket's ever-increasing water-supply woes.
However, a project to have a large mains water pipeline feeding Phuket from the Cheow Lan Lake, in Khao Sok National Park in Phang Nga, has been repeatedly proposed over the years.
The reservoir, also called the "Rachaprapha Dam Reservoir" ("Public Waterworks Reservoir"), covers 185 square kilometres, stretching from Surat Thani province into Phang Nga.
In the meantime, Mr Somsawat called on local residents to understand the problem and to take appropriate action.
“People must realise this problem for themselves. After April, people should make arrangements for their own water supply to last a month in case of emergency," he said.
"After the beginning of May, the rains will come and replenish the water levels at Bang Neow Dum reservoir."