Water deal ends risk of rationing

PHUKET: The island’s immediate water problems appear to be over with the settlement in Bangkok yesterday of a row about who pays for the power for a water pump. At the meeting, the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) agreed on behalf of the Phuket Provincial Waterworks (PPW) to pay 70% of the cost of the electricity required to pump extra water from Klong Bang Yai into Phuket’s main storage facility, Bang Wad reservoir. The PPW provides water for all of Phuket except Phuket Town, which is serviced by the Phuket Municipality Waterworks (PMW). The PMW had already agreed to pay 30% of the electricity for the pump, which was installed this year with a pipeline from Klong Bang Yai to Bang Wad. Now the deal requires only the signatures of Phuket Town Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok for the PMW and of Wanchai Kuprasert, Governor of the PWA, to go ahead. The man in charge of Bang Wad, Suwin Anukul, Chief of Water Management and the Irrigation System Improvement Branch, told the Gazette that Phuket Irrigation, which oversees supplies, was already pumping water into the reservoir. He predicted that it would contain 7.2 million cubic meters by the end of this year – enough for Phuket’s needs through the next dry high season. “We won’t need the rainmakers next year,” he added.