Phuket vice governor says water shortage not a concern
Phuket’s vice governor announced yesterday in a meeting that even though the island’s rainfall was below average in 2021, there was still lots of water from the three main reservoirs, and water shortage is “not a concern.” He said plans still need to be made to prevent water shortages in Phuket, though. Phuket had severe water shortages in 2019 and 2020.
Deputy PM Prawit travelled to Phuket in 2020, and ordered the Office of National Water Resources (ONWR) to work on fixing the shortage. This included working on a pipeline from Phang Nga. That year, communities relied on water tanks installed in their street areas, and had to collect water from buckets to carry back to their houses. Prawit said poor residents in one soi had no tap water for months.
In 2019, the president of the Southern Thai Hotels Association said hotels had been hit hard by the shortage, and many had to resort to independent water suppliers. He called on the state to help so that Phuket could have sustainable tourism. The city mayor said the government had been providing free water to 18,000 households a day. 70% of the water was produced locally, and the rest was from local suppliers, she said.
Sources: The Phuket News | The Phuket News | Thai PBS World
