Drought hasn't been kind to Puan Srija, with his failing health. The worst dry spell seen in Uttaradit in decades has displaced the old fisherman and many of his neighbours in rural Ban Huai Ta.
Puan Srija seeks divine blessings from a dead Bo tree in the grounds of an old temple that was submerged when the Sirikit Dam was built.
The drought has also altered the vista of the village that the weathered 69-year-old calls home.
He never thought he would live to see the day when the old sermon hall and chapel of the original Ban Huai Ta temple, built so many decades ago, would once again rise above the dam waters.
The temple, along with about 130 homes in the village in Tha Pla district, was relocated higher up the hill to escape the water when much of Ban Huai Ta was submerged in the construction of the Sirikit Dam in 1968. The old structure was left behind to be submerged.
But remains of this structure once again sit in the glare of sunlight as the El Nino phenomenon makes the annual drought more brutal than ever. Uttaradit is among a swath of provinces across the central-northern belt that is being devastated by the dry spell despite rain upstream that has added a bit more water to the meagre supplies left in the Sirikit Dam.
The rain gave the parched farmland and reservoirs some reprieve. But much more water — a lot, in fact — is needed to last Uttaradit and the other provinces through to next summer, which begins in March.
"I have to wait for the next rains to replenish the dam so that I can move back to my house on the island. But I don't really know how long I will have to wait," Mr Puan said.
After the dam was constructed, his house was moved to higher ground surrounded by water that created an islet in the middle of the reservoir.
But the severity of the drought led the water level to fall dramatically, exposing a vast expanse of the dam bed with cracks extending as far as the eye can see.
Raft houses sit in shallow water. As water levels drop, the remains of the old temple can be seen.
Mr Puan has to walk quite a distance to areas of the dam where there is still water. The faster the water ebbs, the longer the walk he has to endure. But age is catching up with him and his legs are growing tired.
The fisherman said the receding water has forced him to dock his boat two kilometres from his house.
The old man said he was not able to walk that far due to his poor health so he decided to convert his boat into a temporary home from where he can catch fish to sell them.
This saves him the trouble of walking back and forth to his house and he also visits nearby shrubbery and collects wild bamboo shoots, which earn him extra income.
Mr Puan said despite the convenience, he misses his family and cannot wait to return home.
Residents of Ban Huai Ta islet normally commute to the mainland by boat. The Sirikit Dam, which feeds water to local rice and maize farms, provides them with fertile ground for fresh water fishing.
Some locals also make a living by weaving fabrics and carving wood under projects launched by Her Majesty the Queen during her visit to the province in 1996 to improve the lives of the people.
The drought, however, has devastated the farms and ruined the fishing industry at Ban Huai Ta and downstream. The suffering of the locals is shared by tens of thousands in Uttaradit, as discouraging figures about the state of the country's dams is spread across the media.
At varying points, supplies in the four main dams — Bhumibol in Tak, Sirikit in Uttaradit, Kaew Noi Bamrungdan in Phitsanulok and Pasak Chonlasit in Lop Buri — have hit new lows.
For the Sirikit Dam, the water level is at its lowest point since the dam began operation 38 years ago.
The level is 134 metres above sea level, compared with 162 metres above sea level recorded at the same time last year. The dam now holds 3.8 billion cubic metres of water, considerably lower than the 5.8 billion cubic metres for the same period last year.
Veera Phonet, a fisherman in Ban Huai Ta who lives on a raft house, said every time he went fishing in the dam in the past he would catch more than 10 kilogrammes of pla tuptim (red tilapia), pla nil (Nile tilapia), pla khang (Asian redtail catfish) and pla krasoob (hampala barb).
Today he sits idle on the shore to wait out the drought. It is simply not worth the fuel and labour to venture out fishing.
"Sometimes, people from nearby provinces such as Phrae and Nan come here to fish for recreation. But for me, my family has been blessed with the bounty in the Sirikit Dam," Mr Veera said.
Tourism is also affected by the drought. Kla Chansodsai, a 70-year-old restaurateur and raft tour operator, said in the 22 years he has run his businesses, he has never seen the Sirikit Dam with so little water.
Mr Kla said he sometimes earned 30,000 baht a day. However his income has dwindled to a tenth as tourists are few and far between.
"Few tourists come here for sightseeing now. The attractions were scenic when the dam was full, but that's not the case this year. I have lost most of my income since March and I still have other expenses such as labour and utilities costs to pay," Mr Kla said.
He said he has to push his raft and mooring deeper into the dam every time the water level drops. This year he has moved his raft restaurant three times, each time costing him about 5,000 baht.
"The only thing I can do now is to place my hope on the next rainfall. But if the rain doesn't come soon, I will just have to live with it," he said.
Rachan Nahawan, chairman of Charim tambon administration organisation, said financial support from the government could play a pivotal role in tackling the drought crisis in Tha Pla district.
He urged the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the Provincial Electricity Authority and the Sirikit Dam to construct an alternative reservoir downstream from the main dam.
That would allow water from Sirikit Dam to be stored there and be used for tap supplies during the dry season.
Mr Rachan estimated that the drought will last until next year as the water level in Sirikit Dam, on which more than 90% of local villagers rely for their daily consumption, agriculture and fisheries, is critically low.
Tambon Ruamjit chairman Chumpon Ruamsook also supports the construction of a second dam to reserve water.
He said there is little rainfall even though the country has entered the rainy season and this could affect tap water production and distribution.
Besides the water shortage, many residents of Tha Pla live in impoverished conditions because of a weak economy and poor public utilities.
Mr Chumpon said the people in the community must be considered a crucial part of building communal strength. Together they can work out new strategies for harnessing farm productivity, which can create wealth.
Authorities should encourage locals to grow chemical-free vegetables and run animal husbandry enterprises, he said.
Local schools and business operators also must be encouraged to purchase local products so that villagers can earn more income to financially sustain their families.
More revenue will then circulate and more jobs generated in the community, which can ease the problem of labour migration to big cities.
Local cooperatives and village funds should also be launched to support local businesses as well, Mr Chumpon said.
A woman sits on a tree stump in the middle of a dried-up patch of land in the dam. Photos by Phongthai Wattanavanitvut
TOP TO BOTTOM Workers try to save catfish in their farm as the water level in the dam becomes dangerously low. At the same time, the severe drought is also disrupting the lives of many local residents including Puan Srija, who had to walk with crutches to fish further away from home before deciding to turn his boat into a temporary house. Raft houses lie abandoned in patches of water which, ironically, are providing fertile ground for livestock grazing.
