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Thais eye water from rivers on Myan



Subject: Thais eye water from rivers on Myanmar  border 

JAN 23 1999

                    Thais eye water from rivers on Myanmar
                    border 
Reuters 23 Jan 1999


                    Bangkok may reconsider its 1995 plan to drain water
from the
                    Salween and Moei rivers on the border, ahead of its
projected
                    water shortage

                    BANGKOK -- Thailand, bracing itself for its worst water
shortage in
                    decades, said it plans to drain supplies from the
Salween and Moei
                    rivers which demarcate its border with Myanmar. 

                    The plan to drain 3.5 billion cu m of fresh water
annually from the
                    rivers was initiated in 1995. 

                    It was now being reconsidered by the Cabinet, said a
government
                    minister on Thursday. 

                    "The Cabinet is considering the project and I am
optimistic that it will
                    materialise soon," Science, Technology & Environment
Minister Suvit
                    Khunkitti said. 

                    Talks would be held with the Myanmar government to ask
if the
                    country would like to join in the water-draining project. 

                    "At the moment we have only 3.7 billion cu m of water
reserves in the
                    Bhumibol Dam, which is regarded as a crisis level," Mr
Suvit said. 

                    The Agriculture Ministry expects around 96,000 ha of
dry-season
                    rice-planting area will be hit by the water shortage. 

                    The ministry has also appealed to farmers to stop
planting more
                    dry-season rice which relies entirely on irrigation
water. 

                    Dry-season rice is planted from November to May. 

                    The government has also asked Thais to cut down water
usage and
                    farmers to diversify into crops that use less water than
rice, such as
                    corn and soya bean. 

                    Orange planters in Phathum Thani province, in the
northern outskirts
                    of Bangkok, estimated that at least 70 per cent of their
annual
                    350-million-tonne yield would be damaged by the water
shortage.
                    Reuters