CityNews – Mae Wang reservoir has been sitting on the drawing board since 1985, but has now been greenlighted.
Capt. Thamanat Prompow, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, joined by the Regional Irrigation Office 1 and Mae Wang local authorities, visited Ban Mai Pang Term, Bad Kad, Mae Wang District where construction of a reservoir has been proposed and planned since 1985.
The proposal to relieve the recurrent drought and flood issues in Mae Wang, as well as San Pa Tong and Doi Lo Districts — districts where the Mae Wang stream flows through – has been sitting on the drawing board since 1985 due to environmental concerns.
On July 9th 2004, the project was put forward again by Tongchai Wongriantong, the then governor of Chiang Mai and on October 13th 2006 the Irrigation Office 1 started to conduct a study. However, there has not been much progress since then.
According to the Irrigation Office 1 report, there are about 90 million cubic metres of water in Mae Wang stream per year, but without a dam villagers often faced droughts during the dry seasons and flooding during the rainy seasons. Although there are 11 check dams along the stream, water security is still inadequate.
Now that the government is activating the project again, Capt. Thamanat revealed that an assessment study will be completed by next year along which will be followed by an adjustment to the blue print which was drafted since 2012. The budget is estimated to be around 500 million baht. In the meanwhile, authorities will be repairing the Huay Pueng check dam which is planned to be completed next month.