Infrastructure
Water and sanitation
Thailand begins water rationing in three provinces
Thailand’s Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) has begun rationing water in three provinces as the severity of the drought, expected to be far worse than last year, has started to affect tap water production. Ratana Kitchawan, the PWA’s director, on 20 January said three branches of the PWA are ...
Dongmakkhai water treatment set to come on line
More Vientiane households in six districts of the capital will be able to make use of mains water supply early this year after the Dongmakkhai water treatment plant in Xaythany district was completed recently. The plant will go a considerable way to solving the water supply ...
Canal repair reduces Yangon water supply
Householders in 19 Yangon city townships are being urged to store water as repair work proceeds on the canal that supplies much of the city’s water. The city’s Irrigation Department will be working on the canal between the Ngamoeyeik dam and the city’s Nyaunghnapin pumping station ...
Wastewater problem growing in Vientiane
Few households in Vientiane have installed treatment systems for their wastewater before it is discharged into drainage channels and collects in the city’s ponds and marshes. As it seems that many home owners in Vientiane don’t care about wastewater treatment or the quality of the water ...
Authorities move to clear squatters from town water supply
Pyin Oo Lwin officials are cracking down on forest dwellers squatting near a road construction site alongside the city’s only water supply. The township’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Forestry blamed the squatters around Lake Thit Ta Pin Taung for causing forest degradation by lighting forest ...
FDA shutters 22 mom-and-pop drinking-water companies
Unlicensed bottled water companies are being shut down by the Food and Drug Administration for fear they could be bacteria-ridden and contaminated, according to officials. Action is so far aimed at small-time businesses which often operate out of the vendors’ homes. However, the results of a secret ...
Thai PM urged to await verdict before paying constructor of Klong Dan project
A civic group on 3 December petitioned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to exercise his special power and cancel the Cabinet’s resolution approving the payment of Bt9.6 billion in compensation to the constructor of the corruption-plagued Klong Dan wastewater-treatment project. Keep reading ...
Rural latrine access on the rise, government finds
The Ministry of Rural Development on 13 November announced that more than half of Cambodians now have access to improved sanitation such as latrines. According to the ministry’s statement, 47 per cent of Cambodians now lack access to improved sanitation, compared to 89 per cent in 1990. The ...
Floating Vientiane pump stations to access river water
Water storage engineers in Vientiane are now installing pumps on boats moored over deep sections of the Mekong River as alternatives to riverbank pumps to access sufficient water supplies. Currently, riverbank pumps are still taking water from the Mekong to reservoirs but the level of water ...
Rain causes river bank collapse in Chai Nat
Heavy rain that hit parts of Sankhaburi district of Chai Nat province on night of 9 November caused the bank of the Noy river to collapse, damaging a riverside road and pulling down many houses. Hardest hit were villages in tambons Don Kam, Bang Khut and Pho Ngam. Keep ...