Rapid Assessment for Resilient Recovery and ... - GFDRR

The supply assessment and regulation of groundwater lies with the Department of
Groundwater Resources (DGR) under MNRE. The DGR is responsible for developing,
managing and controlling groundwater resources. There has been an internal
separation in this division between control responsibilities and the development and
management responsibilities. Under the new decentralisation policy of the
government, the development responsibility will be devolved over a six-year period to
the local government administrations. Since 1977 permits have been required to
extract groundwater from deep aquifers, with a price for extraction also being
charged. This presently has a ceiling of THB 3.5/cubic metre, but a hefty price
increase is currently under consideration. Groundwater permits may be revoked if
extraction results in damage to any aquifers, the environment, public health or if it
leads to land subsidence.
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC)
The MOAC has more than twenty departments or offices, of which the Royal
Irrigation Department (RID) is the most important and critical in terms of water
provision and management. RID is the major agency involved in water project
investment planning, design and construction in Thailand. RID has a large central
presence as well as seventeen regional offices throughout Thailand, with three
regional offices located in the Chao Phraya Basin. It is usually described as an
engineering and construction department principally involved with the provision of
water and the maintenance of water delivery systems. RID also has a principal role in
flood mitigation issues as its canals and water regulation devices are used for flood
protection and drainage during the wet season. It develops its own plan for flood
protection in the lower Chao Phraya Basin, including Bangkok and surrounds,
consistent with the generic flood mitigation policies set by the ad hoc Commission
for Solving Water Problems.
RID, jointly with EGAT, plays a key role in the present system of annual sharing of the
available water resources, by determining total water demand requirements by all
users (irrigation, major urban and industrial, salinity intrusion, navigation, etc) and
relating this to overall seasonal water availability. The operational plan for water
allocation in the basin is agreed to by the Joint Chao Phraya Operations Committee.
The Water Control & Coordinating Branch, Office of Hydrology and Water Management
undertakes close monitoring of water use and issues daily directives on water
use.
When considered in total, the functions of RID are greater than simply those of an
‘irrigation department’. While its main role is as a water provider, it also performs a
partial role as a water resources manager. Of course, this role of manager can only
be incomplete in the absence of modern water legislation that clearly defines a
water rights and allocation system for individual and cross-sectoral sharing of water.
As well, there is the potential for conflict of roles where the irrigation provider and
resource management functions are within the one organization with no attempt to
separate accountabilities.
Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)
EGAT was previously a very important developer of storage dams with hydropower
potential, but as the most suitable sites have been developed and new sites have
become both economically and environmentally unattractive, a shift has occurred to
alternative energy sources. EGAT controls the two largest dams in the headwaters of
the Chao Phraya Basin. Each year, EGAT and RID allocate the available water to the
various ‘users’ throughout the basin, based on water budget planning deliberations.
A-40 THAI FLOOD 2011 RAPID ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENT RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING