Phuket is a region of drought and deluge, where the dry season bakes without rain for months on end and the rainy season brings continual bursts of torrential downpour. Local officials are aiming to make some of the rainy season water supply available during the dry months with a pair of new dams in the works for Talang and Chalong.

The first of the new reservoir projects is set for the Ban Kok Tanod area of Cherngtalay in Talang. Called the Kamling project, the reservoir will store water from the rainy season for agricultural as well as residential and commercial users. Also set for the site is a public park.

Phuket Vice Governor Smith Palawatvichai convened a conference on 24 June at the Royal Phuket City Hotel to present the Kamling project to the public. Members of the Royal Irrigation Department as well as the consultant companies outlined the history of the project and detailed the specifications.

The idea of constructing the reservoir originated in 2005 when the Irrigation Department began looking at developing new water supplies for Talang. Kamthorn Tancharue, representing the Irrigation Department?s local office, said the project would cover 200 rai of land currently owned by 88 different landholders. The Irrigation Department is currently in talks to expropriate land from 70 of those owners at a cost of 400-500 million baht.

Boonsanong Suchatphong, a civil engineering academician from the Irrigation Department, said the agency is also in the process of studying the project and presenting it to the public. One of the engineering challenges is to preserve as much water as possible during the dry season and to provide for transfer to the Bang Neaw-Dam dam in Cherngtalay. The study phase is expected to end after a 480-day effort on 14 August. Construction of the dam will begin thereafter, taking 2-3 years to complete.

?Even though the project may be small, Kamling Kok Tanod can hold in reserve around one million cubic metres of water each year,? Khun Boonsanong said. ?If we transfer this water to Bang Neaw-Dam dam, it has the potential to reserve seven million cubic metres of water each year. The Bang Neaw-Dam dam is currently under construction and 90 percent finished. It will be able to begin holding water in July.?

Boonsanong also discussed the Klong Kata project planned for Chalong to provide more water supplies for the southern areas of Phuket.

?The Klong Kata dam project will reserve about 5.7 million cubic metres of water,? he said. ?We still haven?t worked out the details, but we are hoping to construct it at the same time as the Kamling Ban Kok Tanod reservoir. When both are finished, Phuket will be have the resources to preserve around 60 million cubic metres of water per year. They will solve water supply shortages during the dry season and solve flood-control problems in the rainy season. We won?t have to worry so much about water problems, and it will be good for Phuket. Everyone knows that Phuket is a tourist destination, and we need to support the tourism industry.?