Water Shortage?

[sgt]

I have lost count of the times Maliwan Villa has run out of water now in just the last few months. This is not for just a couple of hours but for days. My wife says that much of Udon is also out of water, again.

I know the drought is bad, my wife says the lake that covered and split the family farm land is very low, is this the cause? I understand this is where Udon gets its water.

Does anybody know the cause for these outages?

I'm thinking of buying another tank, but if one doesn't check the tank daily it really doesn't matter, you will still find out when you don't have any water.

[UdonExpat]

It would seem the worsening drought is the culprit.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db9 ... c=3&cc=tha

[douglas]

Hi, Sgt.
I think it is worth investing in another tank. Our tank will last about 3 days when water goes of. Family of Four.I don't use tank water to water garden. use the tap on the main input supply. Then you know approx. when it goes off. No need to check tank until then. You then have 6 days supply. In the last five years since Mal. was built water has only been off once before for a period of 3 days.
I've been told there is plenty of water but they are unable to treat it fast enough. Or have trouble treating it. Seeing how Udon has grown in the last five years it is not surprising. You also hear different stories from different Thais.
Wife just had the water wagon around to fill up tank etc. this morning. Hope shortage does not last longer than another 3 days.
Another thing you have to think about. A lot of people put the tank underground, or on the ground. Electric goes off and you are also out of water. I put my main tank on a framework that is about the level of the taps in house. Therefore if electric goes off switch over to gravity feed. Not so much pressure but O.K. Electric went off, in Maliwan, a couple of years ago when input Transformer blew. El. off for 24Hrs.

[stoneman]

We just moved into our new home and have our own well, so water is not a problem right now, but we had lived for two years in a house supplied by "Town Water" and it seemed to be off more than it was on...But the amazing thing to me is that in this time of MAJOR water shortage, we will see hundreds of people next week standing on the street and throwing water at ever vehicle that goes by...

A mandate from the local govt to curtail this certainly seems appropriate to me...

Stoneman

[EssexGaz]

I have just invested in another tank (2000 litre tank for 5100baht from homemart) to work in conjunction with the 1000 litre tank I already have

If you plumb it in so the new tank is just used as a reserve tank (once its full with water of course!) and the original tank is
used for everyday purposes, when the 1st tank is empty, you just have to switch over the reserve tank and shut off the 1st tank until the water arrives (if ever!!) and then switch back

It works for me!

[douglas]

Hi, Stoneman.
No shortage of water in LOS. only treated water. Plenty of places, wells, lakes and road ditches, to get water from.
As much as I hate this water throwing I don't think it should be stopped.
Wife said she would call in to see water people this afternoon and ask what is the problem. She won't be back until later this evening as she has gone to her sisters, to take kids for showers, who lives in Hansard, excuse spelling, who has still got water this afternoon, and she has no holding tank. So it seems to be not everywhere in Udon.
We have had only one major cut off in the five years I have lived here, not counting this one, which lasted days rather than hours. That time I called the water tanker in and the water was back on in a few hours. But not this time.

[sgt]

We talked (key word-talked) about another tank last time the water went out for more than a day, but never followed through. I guess I will have to put another in, just in case. Having one in reserve is always good, just have to remember that if that water sits there for very long it is going to get very bad. Best to run the water through both tanks. When it went out in Dec or Jan I got a good look at the black inside the tank and the water doesn't sit long in it. When the water wagon came I put clorox (bleach) in. I told my wife to put a couple of capfuls in at least once a month while I was gone. She did "mention" that it smelled bad, anybody taking bets on how much bleach is still in the bottle.

Ahhh, I'm not real sure I would trust the "treated" water. Somehow I just don't have a lot of confidence in the purity of the water coming through the pipes. Brush teeth, but nobody drinks, or even thinks of drinking it.

[jingjai]

I have lived in Udon since December 2005. First in Rom Yen 1, then to Nong Sam Rong. Never a problem with the city water being turned off until November 2009. I woke up one day to find my tank (1500 litres) empty and to find out we had not had city water for 3-4 days. Now, less than six months later...city water has been off again, for I don't know how long, and with no end in sight as to when it will be turned back on .
I wonder if this is a omen that the water situation is not going to be getting better anytime soon, most probably worse .

We just moved into our new home and have our own well, so water is not a problem right now, but we had lived for two years in a house supplied by "Town Water" and it seemed to be off more than it was on...But the amazing thing to me is that in this time of MAJOR water shortage, we will see hundreds of people next week standing on the street and throwing water at ever vehicle that goes by...

A mandate from the local govt to curtail this certainly seems appropriate to me...

Let's not forget, the national government, extended the Song Khran holiday period, one extra day this year .
"Rome burned while Nero fiddled" comes to mind.

[parrot]

Most cities in the US require water mains to be flushed following the loss of pressure/repair of a water main. One city's explanation is at:
www.sandia.gov/.../02516_Flushing_and_D ... n_0705.doc

When we lived downtown a number of years ago, we never saw any evidence of mains' flushing. Water would be off for a day or two or three, then begin to dribble back on.....and along with the water, came all the crud that was either in the pipes already, or seeped in the pipes when the pressure was off. And naturally, all that crud goes into your water tank and gives the new water a nasty smell. I've been wondering if that problem was solved with all the upgraded water mains put in the past year or two......maybe not.

[Khun Paul]

Living out in the sticks as it were, one has to look beyond normal practice in water conservation, I had installed 8 tanks to collect rain water from the house and also a well to top up with a gravity system to ensure all the tanks are topped up.
Then installed 3 tanks (total 8,000 litres to ensure adequate supply) for the house. The tanks are so situated that a man can come alongside the wall and drop me 6000 litres should I need it. While this may seem to some to be excessive I never worry about water and now the local village has its own treatment centre, I also never need a man and a tanker lorry.

I often find that overnight is the best way to fill up the tanks as most Thais are asleep and to be honest they don't think about filling up overnight you just need to hinstall a automatic shut off float ( same as a toilet ) in the tank and it will fill itself and stop when full.

[jingjai]

Anyone know when City Water will be restored on a regular basis?

[EssexGaz]

We had water last night for the first time in about 8 days

still have it now

is it a coincidence that the water festival has started??

call me cynical but was the water company holding back the water so they didnt run out during the festivities???

[UdonExpat]

I don't know if the water company was holding water back, but the water level in Nong Prajak Lake went up dramatically several days ago. Perhaps that's where our water went.

[douglas]

Hi,
Udon Expat and Essex.
You hit the nail on the head. wife was talking to a waterboard worker and this is basically what he stated. ie. trying to save water TIT.
The only way I saved on water was not watering the garden, only small garden, filled most of garden in , to much work. Also put a carrier bag, filled with water, in the toilet tank, saved quite a bit of water this way.

[jingjai]

Reads like you might have lived in California during the drought of 1976-77 Doug.
I was living in Marin County, CA. during those years. I remember not flushing after every pee and putting bricks in the toilet tank to conserve water. Also, if your water consumption was too high...you'd be fined.

The following article from Time Magazine, May 7, 1977.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -2,00.html

But if the worst lies ahead, the present has already brought trouble to many. While such Northern California communities as Alameda, Sonoma and Marin counties (TIME, Feb 14) faced mandatory household rationing of water, other thirsty communities were practicing voluntary conservation. People were suddenly conscious of the wasteful ways in which they use water: 36 gallons for a full bathtub, 25 gallons for a long shower, 30 gallons to wash dishes, seven to flush a toilet, ten gallons a minute to sprinkle a lawn. Governor Jerry Brown declared that he would decide within a few weeks whether to impose statewide mandatory rationing. Meanwhile, he urged all Californians to cut consumption by 25% in their homes, suggesting, as one saving step, that "toilet dams" (plastic pieces that reduce the volume but not the velocity of water) be installed in the tanks. Senator S.I. Hayakawa went further, advising that urination did not really require a flush ("No pull for a pee" has become a California quip).
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... z0ksecrIo3

Also, "shower with a friend" became another another popular quip.

I can't imagine California hold a six day long wasteful "water festival" during the summer of '77. However, as we all are aware...TIT.