Ministry. Plastic imports nearly doubled between 2018 and 2019 due to increased Chinese imports. Electronic waste Thailand is a signatory to the Basel Convention, which prohibits the transnational movement of hazardous waste. The Thai government—sometimes acting through free-trade agreements—circumvents the convention, using legal techniques to skirt the prohibition and instead import hazardous waste, mostly electronic waste. Thai agencies tasked with preventing negative environmental impacts from e-waste have failed to perform their regulatory missions. They have allowed operators of waste management plants to reduce operational costs by disposing of hazardous waste improperly. That has contributed to serious environmental degradation and degraded the health of locals. Thailand legally imports about 53,000 tonnes of e-waste annually. Thailand permits 1,761 factories to manage electronic waste. Five hundred thirty-nine are electronic waste recycling plants. Another 1,222 plants dispose of e-waste in land-fills or by incineration. Most of these plants are in Rayong Province, Chonburi Province, and Chachoengsao Province. In June 2018 Thailand banned all imports of foreign e-waste. China banned the import of foreign e-waste in 2018 also. Since the e-waste ban, 28 new recycling factories, most dealing with e-waste, have opened in Chachoengsao Province. In 2019, 14 businesses in Chachoengsao were granted licenses to process electronic waste, six of them in the Ko Khanun Subdistrict of Phanom Sarakham District. An official of the Basel Action Network, which campaigns against dumping waste in poor countries, said, "E-waste has to go somewhere, and the Chinese are simply moving their entire operations to Southeast Asia. The only way to make money is to get huge volume with cheap, illegal labour and pollute the hell out of the environment," he added. Water pollution Thailand's Pollution Control Department reports divide the country into five main geographical regions: north, northeast, central, south, and east. In those regions, Thailand has a total of 25 river basins. Thailand's annual rainfall averages around 1,700 mm. Despite the annual southwest monsoon, Thailand is subject to drought, particularly the northeastern region. As of 2002, Thailand had less water available per person than any other country in Asia, and nearly one-third of its water was "unsuitable for human consumption." According to the Department of Water Resources, national water demand averages 152 billion m3 per year against a supply of 112 m3. The agricultural sector accounts for 75% of demand, the industrial sector three percent, households four percent, and preserving ecological systems 18%. Dams and reservoirs supply