Thailand Braces for El Niño Rains; Water Authority Mobilizes to Aid Citizens
Thailand's water authority is mobilizing equipment and personnel to combat El Niño's unpredictable weather, which threatens drought in over 50 million rai while causing flooding in another 20 million rai across the country.
On July 4, 2025, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suchat Chomklin advanced government policy under Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to address and alleviate public hardship from water-related crises. He has instructed the Department of Water Resources to closely monitor El Niño impacts as volatile weather patterns leave some areas with prolonged dry spells while others face intense localized rainfall and flash flooding.
The department is mobilizing all available machinery, equipment, personnel, and resources to work with multi-sector networks to swiftly assist residents, ensure adequate drinking water supplies, reduce damage to agricultural zones, and strengthen preparedness against both drought and flood emergencies.
Theerathun Boonsit, director-general of the Department of Water Resources, revealed that the department is aggressively implementing its 2568–2569 drought and flood relief action plan to address El Niño's intensifying rainfall volatility. Over 50 million rai of land face drought risk, while 20.85 million rai are at flood risk. The department has prepared 399 water pumps and approximately 240 heavy machinery units, along with 2,275 flood and landslide warning stations, roughly 1,000 telemetry, hydrological, and CCTV monitoring stations, and 293 small water source monitoring stations. It also operates 11 regional water management centers, 60 clean water production and supply facilities, over 500 drought and flood relief pumping points, nearly 500 officers, and a 2,300-member civil network.
From October 1, 2024, through the present, the department has assisted 36 provinces with drought relief, pumping 23.25 million cubic meters and distributing over 9 million liters of water to approximately 140,000 households across roughly 190,000 rai of agricultural and residential land. Concurrently, it has aided 35 provinces facing flooding, pumping over 55 million cubic meters and assisting approximately 400,000 households across nearly 130,000 rai, demonstrating proactive implementation of government policy to deliver timely, targeted relief and minimize impact on public life.
