Water consumption in Thailand highest in the world
With Songkran on the horizon, it is interesting to read that water consumption (misuse) in Thailand per capita is the highest in the world.
Water consumption in Thailand is no less than 2100 m3 per person per year. In the future, water consumption will have to be drastically reduced through all kinds of measures to prevent problems in the future.
Much is spent on agriculture and the food industry. Because Thailand is dependent on the supply of water from China, among others, which is busy building dams, good water management is unavoidable to provide Thailand with sufficient good water.
In Chiang Mai, the water reservoir for the Songkran water festival is completely polluted. For example, at the Tha Phae there is almost no oxygen left in the water, which is at the expense of the entire ecosystem, including the fish stock. Moreover, this water is particularly harmful to humans if they come into contact with it. The problem is known, but as often happens in this country, little changes.
If a country uses too much water, sanctions can be expected. Thailand's industry will have to adjust and adapt.
– Relocated in memory of Lodewijk Lagemaat † February 24, 2021 –
Thais are a clean and tidy people. It is not unusual to bathe at least 3 times a day in this very hot period. Traditional bathing ( ap name ) is then by far preferable to a shower, because it immediately cools down so wonderfully.
Regards Joy
I think this is exaggerated. They may be clean by putting on clean clothes every day, but splashing water over you doesn't make you clean immediately. And certainly not cleaning their house. Usually they don't get further than walking around with a sweeper. Or mopping an entire shopping center with a cloth. And when I see the locals here ...... after a visit from the plumber you can immediately start mopping your floor, from their clean socks. Sorry, but I see this differently
Yes, it is true that the Thais are very clean, but when I see how the water is handled
I think they have no idea what waste means and just use it
by the way, the drinking water is dirt cheap here for 5L drinking water from the machine I pay 5 Tb
virtually free.
And yes, Songkran every time this happens we are without water... the reason for this is too high consumption.
during these days
I think the Thai uses too much water.
Hey. That seems a bit excessive to me. That would be almost 6 m3 er day pp.
Agriculture and industry is also involved and this per capita has turned around.
Sincerely,
Lodewijk
May I ask what source was used to create this story as I find it rather weak.
Thailand the highest water consumption? What does the list look like then?
There are better figures about water consumption in Thailand. I can't look that up now, because I won't be back in Thailand for a few days. Off the top of my head I say that water consumption can indeed be divided into agricultural use, industrial use (not only food) and private use.
Private use is the lowest, the two other sectors together use the largest share. The Songkran, despite the fact that a lot of water is misused, has hardly any influence on the total consumption.
In the last paragraph you speak of sanctions against Thailand, by whom?
You are absolutely right Gringo we are missing the foundation of this story.
The few days of Songkran have no influence on the total consumption.
Domestic use is unimaginably low compared to Western countries.
We in Isaan have long been happy if water can come out of the tap now and then and that applies to many villages and towns
The water pressure is completely negligible in most counties.
I think the author has to redo his homework to indicate a split between domestic use and, for example, rice cultivation.
The Thai people at home do not waste water like in the west.
Greetings from Danny
I believe so
We now spray 2 times a day 20 min 20 RAI just calculate it from the water consumption
Is not true. The US uses the most water per capita, followed closely by Australia. Just look at this table:
http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=757
Thailand is not even on this list. Why are you bringing this kind of message into the (TB) world?
Cor,
I have no idea which country uses the most water, but your conclusion from your table is incorrect.
Only 30 countries are shown in this table. No data is known for more than 150 other countries. The consumption of Thailand is of course much higher than that of Mozambique. Please provide a better example.
@ Cor. These are figures from 2006. Not really up to date. I'm also curious where
Thickgot the numbers from.Dick: Don't take my name in vain. I am not the author of this posting.
Graphs spill as much as water.
For example, the annual water consumption for sanitary purposes can be added to the water consumption for industrial or agronomic applications. Divide this result by the estimated population of a country, and you have a distorted picture. The source of the numbers may be contaminated. 'Nevertheless' interesting posting from Lodewijk Lagemaat, after all water is a scarce commodity. I think it's a good idea to pause for a moment on the waste.
What does Dick have to do with this? :~) Maybe we should all drink it a little more than waste it.
(Last paragraph humorous note).
Rice production per year in Thailand is 30 million tons. That is 450 kilos of rice per Thai per year.
The water consumption for 1 kilo of rice is 2500 liters = 2,5 m3
The water consumption for rice alone (450 x 2,5 m3) is more than 1100 m3 per person per year.
If you read “Water facts and figures”, then the total use of 2100 m3, which Lodewijk indicates, seems to be quite correct.
http://www.ifad.org/english/water/key.htm
Indeed, a Thai consumes an enormous amount of water. It's been annoying me lately when I see my wife doing the dishes. If they worked like that in Belgium, well, that would give me a big water bill. Oh well, it's not just water that is careless, no, a Thai knows no limits in other areas too. I also read that a Thai is clean in itself. That is 100% correct, but apparently they are not much bothered by environmental pollution, because when I see how people here simply throw plastic waste, food scraps, etc. along the side of the road. Sometimes from a moving car or pick-up. Recently I had to navigate, with my moped, between half-full plastic bags of soft drinks that were simply thrown away carelessly by the passenger of the moped in front, without taking into account those behind them. Then I think to myself; If there is no change in mentality HERE, then Thailand is guaranteed to become one big garbage dump within 10 years. Let's see if there will still be "the land of the eternal smile." I have my own opinion about it, and I don't hide it.
One of the reasons for this is that there is no garbage collection service on the land. People don't know where to throw the waste. Wad is usually burned in front of the door in the morning when there is peace of mind. Fresh dioczin in your fresh nose. Furthermore, there is no deposit system. Solution: Place central waste bins everywhere, which are emptied by the municipality. Better action by the village head against -the polluter-. Introduction of deposits for bottles (glass + plastic). Recording license plates and reporting (putting on YouTube) cars that throw waste out of the car. Province-oriented, annually awarding a premium for the most beautiful = cleanest village. First create the possibilities - then motivate the population.
If we run out of water, it is usually from our own source that cannot pump enough because the neighbors in the area want to keep their turf green if necessary and have to refill the swimming pool that they rarely use.
My Thai family do that with a few bowls of water over their body a day, the neighbor has to take a bath with several hundred liters of water.
I don't know if it is really true that the Thais use the most water. And also not whether it is really used a lot. I do know that I often shower here four times a day. Then I'm not in the shower for half an hour and I don't have hot water either, but after a few hours it's refreshing to find a cool down in the shower.
As a child we had to take a bath once a week and when I was a teenager I thought that was gross. It was too little and I started showering every day. My parents had no problem with me. But when I lived in a room in Leiden for a year and my landlady noticed that I was doing the same there, one day I was invited for a cup of coffee. She said, because I was older than the girls who lived there (my fellow students at the AVR in Leiderdorp), I could do that. I was 23 at the time and the girls around 18), as long as I kept it short.
A year before that I had been on the road in Asia for six months and showered there, just like now more often a day.
In my previous house I was also sometimes without water, because (I was told that Greenfield Valley - where you can fish for expensive money in Hua Hin), often emptied the water tower for their ponds. The people further up, like us, were without water for a while. Fortunately we had a water tank and we were able to cope with that.
We have now done the same in our new house. A 1200 liter tank with pump provides our shower water. Sometimes we also have low water pressure here and not enough water comes out of the tap. The tank is a godsend.
In a hot country like Thailand you simply need a lot of water and it will be much more in the future. And about Songkran: maybe the big cities use a lot of water, around here where I live there is also more use, but I don't think it matters that much. It is less than what falls from the sky in a tropical downpour.
Extremely strange how the writer of this article believes that Thailand has the world's highest water consumption. Schrijver talks about 2100 m3 in TH, but NL alone has a consumption of 2300 m3 per capita. A little googling on the keyword: 'water footprint' yields solid information, which would have discouraged the writer from making bold statements. Also type: water scarcity.
What about water consumption? Well, http://www.nu.nl/wetenschap/2740679/wereldwijde-watervoetafdruk-in-kaart-gebracht.html
of February 2012 brings the latest data on global water use in all its forms: agricultural, industrial, domestic. Unsurprisingly, the US water footprint per capita is No. 1, followed by India and China.
Which are the more accurate numbers? An average world citizen uses 4000 liters of water per day, a Dutchman uses 6300 litres, a North American 7800 litres, and an average Thai: 3850 litres, right below the world average. (http://www.waterfootprint.org)
What do people use in terms of water for the household? Filling a swimming pool, watering the garden, the 'fortuner' to the carcare, showering several times a day, throwing water during Songkran, etc.etc., takes up about 2%.
Is all that a reason to blow so high from the tower? No, the writer could have properly informed himself before the question. to make a statement. Commenters who thought they had to assist him apparently preferred only their own observation and perception.
The latter is not recommended, certainly not with Thai phenomena.
It may be that Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong referred to the Asian World, but spoke about the world in the heat of his speech. My apologies for taking this the wrong way. I have not heard any specific mention of these areas from the Ministry of Agriculture either, though about Thailand's worrying water consumption.
Hence my article.
The Mekong, one of the largest rivers in Asia, goes through China and has built a large number of dams for electricity and agriculture, Burma and Laos followed on a smaller scale. After passing through Thailand, it enters Cambodia. fish depend on this river. (little livestock) Vietnam needs the water for rice cultivation, from which the country lives.
The river is already causing problems due to large fluctuating water levels, the weirs are estimated to reduce fish stocks by 80%, catfish and catfish. (from 1993)
The countries will keep a close eye on each other with regard to water (use) and, where necessary, come up with sanctions, eg no free transit shipping.
I hope, dear Soi, that it comes across a bit more nuanced now.
But the reactions are fascinating to follow.
Sincerely,
Lodewijk
@Lodewijk, the story about the Mekong is, I believe (partly due to the news reports from Thailandblog) well known to all of us. If you then read something and make a report about it, also mention the source. Then stick to the facts. Don't say afterwards that a 'major man' says things he doesn't mean, which may be commonplace in TH, but which you now also use. Of course, water consumption in TH is a cause for concern. Where in the world not? I think I added nuance to the original article with my numbers and source references.
Top Martin in Thailand is indeed a garbage collection service. When I lived there, in Isaan, the service came every week to collect the garbage.
That's right, John, but you must first register with the Amphur before your household waste is collected.
When we came to live here at the beginning of last year, we brought 2 written-off wheelie bins from NL with us.
Put it outside on Sunday evening and left the garbage truck neatly full on Monday morning (at 4 o'clock!!!). My wife went to inquire with the neighbors where the barrel had been emptied and heard that you had to register first and pay a small amount.
Since then, the wheelie bin has also been emptied here.
The Thais don't like it... (in their minds, of course)... and there is guaranteed to be a water shortage in the period after Songkran and just before the start of the rainy season. Just as the Thais do not think that they should not burn down their fields (out of sheer laziness). In the latter, the Thais achieved “first place” in the most polluted air city in the world: Chiang Mai! (source: Bangkok Post).
Water consumption will undoubtedly be much lower than in the Netherlands, for example.
Dishwashers, washing machines are not consumer goods in Thailand. Showering takes up virtually no water in terms of m3.
Previously, the many hotels with swimming pools, etc., were not large users compared to, among others, Dutch hotels and swimming pools.
The Thai usually wash their clothes by hand, or go to the launderettes that are now opening in several places.
We spray the plants, wash the cars, shower regularly as well as the dog. We also use the washing machine 3x a week. Also wash dishes 2 to 3 times a day.
And even then I am surprised that we do not exceed 5m3 per month. costs per month never more than 76 baht.
Then our consumption (4 people and 3 dogs) is a lot higher.
Washing machine runs here every day, the dishes are less done because we often eat out or get something. Our garden (320m2 including buildings, effectively garden 150 m2) is kept green by spraying.
Our monthly consumption is between 12 m3 in the rainy season, rising to 30 in the dry period.
Costs between Thb 120 and Thb 300. Fixed costs are the most
The definition of water use should be clearer.
If you use water to grow rice - in the villages often from an excavated reservoir, it is called used water.
If those rice fields were a forest, you wouldn't call it used water, but you don't have the water anymore either, because the trees have grown taller.
What is the difference between cultivated rice and larger trees in a forest, a forest from which trees are subsequently uprooted?