Abstract

Water User Organizations (WUOs) and Local Administrative Organizations (LAOs) in Thailand have legal responsibilities for local water resource management and for submitting water-related projects to the Thai Water Plan (TWP) system. However, many local organizations face limitations in baseline data, digital tools, and technical capacity required for effective water planning. This study developed “Waterplan RRU” a digital platform designed to support water resource planning and decision-making and implemented it in four subdistricts of Chachoengsao Province: Samet Tai and Samet Nuea in Bang Khla District, Plaeng Yao in Plaeng Yao District, and Khlong Khut in Ban Pho District. The study involved four LAOs and six registered WUOs and employed participatory action research and development evaluation. The research was conducted in three phases: stakeholder engagement and baseline assessment, platform design and validation, and platform implementation with community-based data verification. The baseline assessment identified 102 water sources with a combined potential capacity of 7,318,430 cubic meters, compared with total water demand of 83,241,498.95 cubic meters, indicating a water deficit of 75,923,068.95 cubic meters across the study areas. The mobile-first platform received a high level of architectural suitability from nine domain experts (Mean (x̄) = 4.61, S.D. = 0.48). Training improved the water-management and platform-use competencies of community and LAO personnel (n = 65). End users (n = 94) rated the platform at a high level across functional, usability, performance, and security dimensions (Mean = 4.15–4.25). The results of the knowledge assessment of trainees before training and the training achievement assessment after training showed that post-training achievement increased. Specifically, trainees who received training on the platform for planning and decision-making in water resource management for water user organizations and local administrative organizations in Chachoengsao Province had a post-training mean score of 10.50 with a standard deviation of 1.58, compared to a pre-training mean score of 8.53 with a standard deviation of 3.08. This indicates a statistically significant difference at the .01 level between the pre-training scores and the post-training achievement scores using the digital platform for water management training in Chachoengsao Province.

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