BANGKOK(NNT) – Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan has ordered the National Water Resources Committee to take action on the removal of water hyacinth from canals and rivers prior to the rainy season, using satellite images, and promoting the collective work of agencies on flood control and water retention.
Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, presided over a meeting to draft a water hyacinth and weed eradication plan to improve canal and river capacity ahead of this year’s rainy season.
The meeting acknowledged outcomes from the national water hyacinth eradication campaign from October 2019 to March 2020, where the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning was the main agency responsible.
The meeting approved the use of satellite images from the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) to help target areas with a water hyacinth accumulation.
The images show 25 locations currently in need of attention in Suphan Buri, Chai Nat, Ayutthaya, Singburi, Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Nayok, and Chachoengsao. Related agencies have been assigned to operate in each area, and to report their outcomes to the committee in a timely manner.
DPM Gen Prawit has ordered the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning, provincial governors, and related agencies to speed up the projects, communicate with villagers, and make the most of access to the satellite images, in order to maximize the capacity and flow of rivers and canals during the rainy season, to prevent flash floods.
He said however that water should also be reserved for use in the future, while the collected water hyacinth should be repurposed and utilized in various ways, and all such projects must help improve the people’s quality of life.
