LAM PA CHI RIVER BASIN (THAILAND)

Water Users/ Stakeholders

Surface and groundwater in the basin have three main uses:

1. Irrigation
2. Drinking water
3. Tourism / Industry

Irrigation infrastructure is under the responsibility of the Royal Irrigation Department (RID). For this purpose, 5 small dams and several weirs were constructed in the basin to store water, especially during the dry season. Water is pumped into channels to irrigate the individual crop fields. Detailed data about these water abstractions is not available. Only some rough values were obtained during a field visit to one of the pumping stations.  

There is no law or regulation for groundwater abstractions. In the floodplains many wells have been constructed to extract groundwater and irrigate during the dry season. No reliable data about these abstractions is available. 

The RID is also in charge of conducting hydrological and meteorological monitoring in the basin. A network of 4 discharge and 3 precipitation stations with monthly values was available. In the last decade, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) was founded. They also are in charge of monitoring water resources in the basin. In some cases, both departments compete and run parallel monitoring activities. 

Drinking water treatment and distribution is the responsibility of the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA). The PWA manages a dam to store water and divert it to a treatment plant. After the proper physical and chemical treatments water is distributed through pipelines into the main urban settlements. In the case of rural areas, water is pumped directly from streams or from the ground. 

According to interviews conducted during our field visit to the basin, the tourism industry is growing rapidly in the region and is expected to continue growing in the future. Several hotel complexes are being currently developed in the floodplains impacting the morphology of the river but also increasing water consumption. 

References and further reading:

Chanket, U., Mongkolsawat, C. (2009) An analysis of multi-temporal satellite data for land cover change and its impact on soil erosion over the upper namphong watershed, Northeast Thailand. 30th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing 2009, ACRS 2009, Beijing.

Henderson, G. S., Rouysungnern, S. (1985) Erosion and sedimentation in Thailand." Symposium on effects of forest land use on erosion and slope stability, 1984, Honolulu: 31-39.

Ishikawa, R. et al. (2006) Genetic erosion from modern varieties into traditional upland rice cultivars (Oryza sativa L.) in Northern Thailand, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 53(2): 245-252.

Jantawat, S. (1985) An overview of soil erosion and sedimentation in Thailand, Soil erosion and conservation: 10-14.

Krishna Bahadur, K. C. (2009) Mapping soil erosion susceptibility using remote sensing and GIS: A case of the Upper Nam Wa Watershed, Nan Province, Thailand, Environmental Geology 57(3): 695-705.

Lal, R. (2001) Soil degradation by erosion, Land Degradation and Development 12(6): 519-539.

LDD (2000) Soil Erosion in Thailand. Land Development Department, Ministry of Agriculture and cooperatives.

Meier, G., Zumbroich, T., Roehrig, J. (2013) Hydromorphological assessment as a tool for river basin management: The German field survey method, Journal of Natural Resources and Development 3: 14-26.

Morgan, R. P. C. (2009) Soil Erosion and Conservation, Wiley.

Morgan, R. P. C., Morgan, D. D. V., Finney, H. J. (1984) A predictive model for the assessment of soil erosion risk, Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research 30(C): 245-253.

Nontananandh , S., Changnoi, B. (2012) Internet GIS, based on USLE modeling, for assessment of soil erosion in Songkhram watershed, Northeastern of Thailand, Kasetsart Journal - Natural Science 46(2): 272-282.

Paiboonsak, S., Chanket, U., Mongkolsawat, C., Yommaraka, B., Wattanakit, N. (2005) Spatial modeling for soil erosion risk in upper Chi basin, Northeast Thailand, 26th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, ACRS 2005 and 2nd Asian Space Conference, ASC, Ha Noi.

Paiboonvorachat, C., Oyana, T. J.  (2011) Land-cover changes and potential impacts on soil erosion in the nan watershed, Thailand, International Journal of Remote Sensing 32(21): 6587-6609.

Pensuk, A., Shrestha, R. P. (2010) GIS application for assessing the effects of land use change on surface runoff and soil erosion in phatthalung watershed, Southern Thailand, 31st Asian Conference on Remote Sensing 2010, ACRS 2010, Hanoi.

Plangoen, P., Babel, M. S., Clemente, R. S., Shrestha, S., Tripathi, N. K. (2013) Simulating the impact of future land use and climate change on soil erosion and deposition in the Mae Nam Nan sub-catchment, Thailand, Sustainability (Switzerland) 5(8): 3244-3274.

Renard, K. G., Foster, G. A., Weesies, G. A., McCool, D. K., Yoder, D. C. (1997) Predicting Soil Erosion by Water: A Guide to Conservation Planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), USDA Agriculture Handbook, Agricultural Research Service (USDA) 703: 404 pp.

Sang-Arun, J., Mihara, M., Horaguchi, Y., Yamaji, E. (2006) Soil erosion and participatory remediation strategy for bench terraces in northern Thailand, Catena 65(3): 258-264.

Shrestha, D. P., Suriyaprasit, M., Prachansri, S. (2014) Assessing soil erosion in inaccessible mountainous areas in the tropics: The use of land cover and topographic parameters in a case study in Thailand, Catena 121: 40-52.

Sriboonlue, V., Trelo-Ges, V., Pilawut, S., Khetkratok, N. (2004) Crop furrow erosion assessment in field crop plots in northeast Thailand, Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers 47(2): 419-425.

Sthiannopkao, S., Takizawa, S., Homewong, J., Wirojanagud, W. (2007) Soil erosion and its impacts on water treatment in the northeastern provinces of Thailand, Environment International 33(5): 706-711.

Turkelboom, F., Poesen, J., Ohler, I., Ongprasert, S. (1999) Reassessment of tillage erosion rates by manual tillage on steep slopes in northern Thailand, Soil and Tillage Research 51(3-4): 245-259.

Turkelboom, F., Poesen, J., Ohler, I., Van Keer, K., Ongprasert, S., Vlassak, K. (1997) Assessment of tillage erosion rates on steep slopes in northern Thailand Catena 29(1): 29-44.

Turkelboom, F., Poesen, J., Trébuil, G. (2008) The multiple land degradation effects caused by land-use intensification in tropical steeplands: A catchment study from northern Thailand, Catena 75(1): 102-116.

Weterings, R. (2011) A GIS-based assessment of threats to the natural environment on Koh Tao, Thailand, Kasetsart Journal - Natural Science 45(4): 743-755.

Wijitkosum, S. (2012) Impacts of land use changes on soil erosion in Pa Deng sub-district, adjacent area of Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand, Soil and Water Research 7(1): 10-17.

Wischmeier, W. H., Smith, D. D. (1978) Predicting Rainfall Erosion Losses - A Guide to Conservation Planning, 1st ed, Agriculture Handbook, ARS & USDA: 69 pp.

Ziegler, A. D., Giambelluca, T. W. (1997) Simulation of runoff and erosion on mountainous roads in northern Thailand: A first look, Proceedings of the 1997 5th Scientific Assembly of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, IAHS, Wallingford, United Kingdom Rabat, Morocco, IAHS Press.

Ziegler, A. D., Giambelluca, T. W., Sutherland, R. A. (2001) Erosion prediction on unpaved mountain roads in northern Thailand: Validation of dynamic erodibility modelling using KINEROS2, Hydrological Processes 15(3): 337-358.

Ziegler, A. D., Giambelluca, T. W., Sutherland, R. A. (2001) Acceleration of Horton overland flow and erosion by footpaths in an upland agricultural watershed in northern Thailand, Geomorphology 41(4): 249-262.