Northeast faces drought, as dam levels low

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION

 

File photo: Ubonrat Dam

 

SOME PARTS of the Northeast and Central regions are expected to face severe drought due to near-empty reservoirs and a strong dry season caused by the El Nino effect.

 

Even though three provinces are still inundated, and the dry season has yet to begin, the National Water Resources (ONWR) yesterday raised an alarm about emerging drought risks. The Northeast faces the greatest risk, as Ubonrat Dam, one of the major dams of the region, is only 11 per cent full. The Northeast has 21 of the country’s 36 dams that are at less than 30 per cent of their available capacity.

 

Moreover, the Meteorological Department and Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute (HAII) also caution that these dams only have some 30 days to collect water from the seasonal rainfall until the rainy season resumes in May 2019.

 

The Meteorological Depart-ment has also warned that the development of El Nino in the Pacific Ocean in the beginning of 2019 will contribute to an even drier than normal climate in Southeast Asia and Western Pacific, which will further intensify the severity of the coming drought.

 

Given the worrisome water situation in many reservoirs, Somkiat Prajamwong, ONWR secretary-general, has ordered all water-management agencies to get ready for the upcoming drought and carefully manage water resources. They must ensure that the country has sufficient water to last through the upcoming dry season, Somkiat added.

 

 “The ONWR has assigned all responsible agencies to closely monitor the water situation in their reservoirs,” he said. “If they find that the water level in their reservoirs is below 60 per cent of total capacity, they will have to assess the risk of water insufficiency and report back to ONWR.” 

 

 

He said the list of these reservoirs and their assessed water situation would be passed on to the Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Depart-ment, so they can run rainmaking missions to top up the dams.

 

Information from Royal Irrigation Department’s (RID) Smart Water Operation Centre put water levels in 143 reservoirs at less than 60 per cent of capacity. Of those, 132 are medium-sized reservoirs, with most located in the lower part of the Northeast and to the west of the Chao Phraya River Basin.

 

Those regions match up with the highly unusual precipitation patterns of this year, in which much of the country, especially upper Northeast and East have received much larger volumes of rain, which contributed to widespread floods in 23 provinces.

 

The amount of precipitation in lower Northeast and western part of the Central Plain was significantly lower than average, which caused water scarcity in those areas well before the rainy season has ended.

 

HAII has calculated a deficit of some 799 million cubic metres of water to meet demand in the Chao Phraya River Basin during the dry season.

 

The total water demand for this region until the next rainy season is estimated at around 12 billion cubic metres, while there are only 11.21 billion cubic metres of water reserves in the four main dams of the watershed. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30355141

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-25

Been saying this ALL year. Not getting rains in Southern Surin, Buriram and Korat. The elitist  in Bangkok need to build an adequate water distribution system for Thailand and stop saying fork off to the NE.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Northeast faces drought, as dam levels low

This is Thailand, one day levels high , the next week levels low. Where the water is gone? Thai expert will tell us very soon.

After year after floods in one province drought in another. Couldn't someone  have figured out  by now how to redistribute the water. Amazing Thailand

Experience shows it's almost inevitable that, when an article on water management in Thailand appears on this site, the TV irrigation experts (and they appear to number in the thousands) are quick to condemn local efforts. This despite the evidence to the contrary, if one compares the situation to, say, one hundred years ago. Again, a look at how well the country performs in this field compared to its peers demonstrates not how badly the Thais do, but how well.

Not much can be done if it didn't rain in the rainy season. 

2 hours ago, khwaibah said:

Been saying this ALL year. Not getting rains in Southern Surin, Buriram and Korat. The elitist  in Bangkok need to build an adequate water distribution system for Thailand and stop saying fork off to the NE.

I understand you.. but how do you suggest to do this.. as it will not be financially possible (it can be done but the cost would be too high for even a first world country). Pumping water upstream is really hard to do in large volume. 

9 minutes ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

if one compares the situation to, say, one hundred years ago

things were better a hundred years ago. there were no dams and no "floods". Just water going where it has always gone. 

 

its the humans who create all of this.

And they highlight the story with a picture of full dam. 

Edited September 25, 20187 yr by Geordie59

I see different numbers in the summary tables: http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_dam_1.php?lang=en

8 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

things were better a hundred years ago. there were no dams and no "floods". Just water going where it has always gone. 

 

its the humans who create all of this.

There has to be water management, this is my point. One hundred years ago Thailand was an almost exclusively agrarian country with one-tenth the population it has today. In addition, climate change is adding to the difficulties of an already challenged, monsoonal country.

I don't say the Thais do a perfect job in the face of changing circumstances, but I do say they do a good job, given the resources.

This has been the wettest, rainiest, rainy season I have seen in over 10 years in Udon. I would have never expected an article like this as everything is soaked around here.

 

We read every month how Bangkok, Pattaya, and other places are flooded with water to the tops of parked cars.. 

Amazing there is not enough water and a drought is sure to follow.

29 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

things were better a hundred years ago. there were no dams and no "floods". Just water going where it has always gone. 

 

its the humans who create all of this.

A hundred years ago, Thailand forest cover was rich and abundant. Between 1945-1975 forest cover declined 61% to 34% and declined further subsequently. Thailand used to be a timber exporting country but now a nett importer. The 1st big flood post war was in 1983. Yes, human created the deforestation and the floods.  

38 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

things were better a hundred years ago. there were no dams and no "floods". Just water going where it has always gone. 

 

its the humans who create all of this.

By chopping all the forests to timber and destroying the natural water retention. Money talked.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The Northeast faces the greatest risk, as Ubonrat Dam, one of the major dams of the region, is only 11 per cent full. The Northeast has 21 of the country’s 36 dams that are at less than 30 per cent of their available capacity.

 

Well according to this link, which shows all large reservoirs  at 7 am this morning Ubonrat dam stood at 33%.

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_dam_1.php?lang=en

 

A closer look here.

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_lgraph3.php?dam_id=10&lang=en

 

For medium reservoirs see here.

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/show_sm_dam.php?lang=en

 

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

Well according to this link, which shows all large reservoirs  at 7 am this morning Ubonrat dam stood at 33%.

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_dam_1.php?lang=en

 

A closer look here.

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_lgraph3.php?dam_id=10&lang=en

 

For medium reservoirs see here.

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/show_sm_dam.php?lang=en

 

 

 

 

Ubonrat is not a big reservoir, I'd be more concerned if Lam Pao or similar.

They're all full to the brim around Chiang May.

Mae Kuang dam is releasing water at maximum flow every day.

39 minutes ago, 727Sky said:

This has been the wettest, rainiest, rainy season I have seen in over 10 years in Udon. I would have never expected an article like this as everything is soaked around here.

 

We read every month how Bangkok, Pattaya, and other places are flooded with water to the tops of parked cars.. 

Amazing there is not enough water and a drought is sure to follow.

I live in Udon Thani province too and up here it is the driest for 11 years based on the local weather data.  Rainfall data suggest this part has received only 60% of the average rainfall.  Our ponds are at a level now normally associated with January.  Its been very very patchy

15 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

Ubonrat is not a big reservoir, I'd be more concerned if Lam Pao or similar.

 I will be very worried when the Mekong runs dry.

Didn't I read, not too long ago, that most reservoirs were nearly full, in fact water had the be released to reduce the level to acceptable values?

What happened?

1 minute ago, hansnl said:

Didn't I read, not too long ago, that most reservoirs were nearly full, in fact water had the be released to reduce the level to acceptable values?

What happened?

People? Industry? Agriculture? The weather? They can be somewhat predicted, but to varying degrees and never 100%

18 minutes ago, hansnl said:

Didn't I read, not too long ago, that most reservoirs were nearly full, in fact water had the be released to reduce the level to acceptable values?

What happened?

Seems to be pretty binary, either they are overflowing or near dry. Earlier in this thread there was a map of annual rainfall difference, some places are bone dry while others are resembling waterworld.

The last few weeks were all about dams being too full,

and now the news is just the opposite. Who's agenda

is at work now? ... or, who's was at work then?    Either

way, I'm guessing someone is NOT doing their job.

 

3 hours ago, hansnl said:

Didn't I read, not too long ago, that most reservoirs were nearly full, in fact water had the be released to reduce the level to acceptable values?

What happened?

 

If you sane the links that I posted you can check them on a daily basis.

 

You could even make an XLS file and update it on a daily basis and keep a running log. That may be handy if there is a dam near you and you live in a flood prone area or are a farmer who needs a constant supply of water.

2 hours ago, Dap said:

The last few weeks were all about dams being too full,

and now the news is just the opposite. Who's agenda

is at work now? ... or, who's was at work then?    Either

way, I'm guessing someone is NOT doing their job.

 

 

It depends on what dams and in what area. The problem is that there are areas of heavy rain and areas of little rain up in Issan and there is no way to cross feed the excess water.

 

The Bhumibol dam north of Tak is steady at 66% and is on the Ping river. The Ping river joins the Nan river at Nakhon Sawan to form the Chao Phraya river which is the main river past Aytthuaya and all those car factories that were flooded back in 2011 as was BKK.

 

The Nan river is fairly high at the moment while the Ping is not so it is reasonable to say. AT THIS point, BKK should be fairly safe from flooding.

 

However if the Bhumibol has to dump a lot of water and the Nan is very high then BKK may get very wet.

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

It depends on what dams and in what area. The problem is that there are areas of heavy rain and areas of little rain up in Issan and there is no way to cross feed the excess water.

 

The Bhumibol dam north of Tak is steady at 66% and is on the Ping river. The Ping river joins the Nan river at Nakhon Sawan to form the Chao Phraya river which is the main river past Aytthuaya and all those car factories that were flooded back in 2011 as was BKK.

 

The Nan river is fairly high at the moment while the Ping is not so it is reasonable to say. AT THIS point, BKK should be fairly safe from flooding.

 

However if the Bhumibol has to dump a lot of water and the Nan is very high then BKK may get very wet.

I understand and agree. My post was a classic case of moth before brain. Just too bad the powers that be haven't figured a way to funnel some of that "pocket cash" into a way to divert the excess northern waters over to Issan. ????

Rain forecast for NE now, hope they get enough to help with the dam levels.

Geezer

13 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

It depends on what dams and in what area. The problem is that there are areas of heavy rain and areas of little rain up in Issan and there is no way to cross feed the excess water.

 

The Bhumibol dam north of Tak is steady at 66% and is on the Ping river. The Ping river joins the Nan river at Nakhon Sawan to form the Chao Phraya river which is the main river past Aytthuaya and all those car factories that were flooded back in 2011 as was BKK.

 

The Nan river is fairly high at the moment while the Ping is not so it is reasonable to say. AT THIS point, BKK should be fairly safe from flooding.

 

However if the Bhumibol has to dump a lot of water and the Nan is very high then BKK may get very wet.

I think that the risk for BKK has decreased over the years, after 2011 they did not make many big dams (none). But they did heighten roads around Ayuttaya so they could contain more water and an overland flooding like in 2011 would not happen again. They drastically increased their water buffer area's. 

 

I think BKK is for a large part much safer as in 2011, maybe that is why there have not been any other big projects as they deem BKK and surroundings safe.

20 hours ago, 727Sky said:

This has been the wettest, rainiest, rainy season I have seen in over 10 years in Udon. I would have never expected an article like this as everything is soaked around here.

 

We read every month how Bangkok, Pattaya, and other places are flooded with water to the tops of parked cars.. 

Amazing there is not enough water and a drought is sure to follow.

You must live in a different Udon to me. I've been here 6 years and I've seen less thunderstorms than usual, especially last year. We've had a few days of drizzle as well.. Not a lot of rain.

Got friends in Buriram saying the same. 

13 minutes ago, lahgon29 said:

You must live in a different Udon to me. I've been here 6 years and I've seen less thunderstorms than usual, especially last year. We've had a few days of drizzle as well.. Not a lot of rain.

Got friends in Buriram saying the same. 

Same same as I said in my previous post 18.   I have to keep asking where oh where in Udon have they had all this rain ? Certainly our friends and family scattered around the province are like us and complaining of too little rain.