Wanon Niwat ( th, วานรนิวาส, ) is a district (''
amphoe
An amphoe (sometimes also ''amphur'', th, อำเภอ, )—usually translated as "district"—is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Groups of ''amphoe'' or districts make up the provinces, and are analogous to countie ...
'') in the northern part of
Sakon Nakhon province, northeast
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
.
Etymology
The name of the district means 'house of monkeys', which refers to the old name of the area, ''Kut Ling'' (กุดลิง). ''Ling'' is the Thai word for 'monkey', however in this case it is the name of a tree. Thus the old name meant 'Water which stops flowing at Ling trees'.
Geography
Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise)
Ban Muang,
Kham Ta Kla,
Akat Amnuai,
Phanna Nikhom,
Phang Khon,
Sawang Daen Din and
Charoen Sin.
Environment
Potash
Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. deposits were discovered in the area in the late-1970s. The Chinese state-owned China Ming Ta Potash Corporation, gained permission for five years to explore 120,000
rai
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terr ...
of land in the district in 2015. Residents of the district's 82 villages are concerned about the potential environmental impacts of mining projects. Potash mining produces large quantities of salt
tailings
In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlie ...
. Residents are worried that the new potash mine will cause environmental problems like high salt concentration in the soil, contamination of water sources, and soil subsidence.
Administration
The district is divided into 14 sub-districts (''
tambon
''Tambon'' ( th, ตำบล, ) is a local governmental unit in Thailand. Below district (''amphoe'') and province (''changwat''), they form the third administrative subdivision level. there were 7,255 tambons, not including the 180 ''khwaeng'' ...
s''), which are further subdivided into 175 villages (''
muban
Muban ( th, หมู่บ้าน; , ) is the lowest administrative sub-division of Thailand. Usually translated as 'village' and sometimes as 'hamlet', they are a subdivision of a tambon (subdistrict). , there were 74,944 administrative mu ...
s''). Wanon Niwat is a sub-district municipality (''
thesaban tambon
Thesaban ( th, เทศบาล, , ) are the municipalities of Thailand. There are three levels of municipalities: city, town, and sub-district. Bangkok and Pattaya are special municipal entities not included in the ''thesaban'' system.
The mu ...
'') which covers parts of ''tambon'' Wanon Niwat. There are a further 14
tambon administrative organization
''Tambon'' ( th, ตำบล, ) is a local governmental unit in Thailand. Below district (''amphoe'') and province (''changwat''), they form the third administrative subdivision level. there were 7,255 tambons, not including the 180 ''khwaeng'' ...
s (TAO).
References
External links
amphoe.com(Thai)
Wanon Niwat
{{SakonNakhon-geo-stub