East Water Denies Cuts

Aug. 19–Eastern Water Resources Development and Management Plc insists it has not reduced supplies to Rayong and is still delivering the normal amount of 20,000 cubic metres of water per day to the local Provincial Waterworks Authority unit.

East Water chief executive Wanchai Lawatanatrakul was responding to complaints that the company had cut supplies to the PWA for general use in order to reserve more water for industrial activities.

Mr Wanchai said technical tests on a pump system and water allocation from the Rayong River earlier this month might have affected pressure and generated air blockages that impeded normal water flows through the pipeline system.

As a result, the PWA’s Ban Chang station might have received less than the 20,000 cubic metres of water that entered the pipeline system, he said.

The problem has been solved and PWA officials in Ban Chang confirmed volumes were normal as of Tuesday, he added.

Mr Wanchai added that East Water was now acquiring supplementary water supplies of 150,000 cubic metres per day from the Rayong River and Bang Pra reservoir as a result of the recent investment of 440 million baht in new pipelines.

East Water also has invested 10 million baht to connect its pipeline system with the Nong Plalai reservoir, one of two key reservoirs in the Eastern Seaboard area.

The additional water from the Rayong River and Bang Pra reservoir would help increase the available supply from the Nong Plalai and Dok Krai reservoirs in Rayong from 300,000 to 450,000 cubic metres per day, said Mr Wanchai.

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