Is Bangkok really under threat from sea level rise?

[webfact]

The short answer is yes. Bangkok is located on the central plains of Thailand, and it is situated only about 1.5 meters (5 feet) above sea level. The region is crisscrossed by several rivers and canals, and its geographical location makes it vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise.

 

But before we go rushing off to throw paint at sculptures and glueing ourselves to paintings, know that this is as much an engineering and government issue as it is a climate change issue.

 

Because while climate change may be the number one factor in rising sea levels, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projecting that sea levels could rise by several feet by the end of this century if emissions continue unabated, there are ways to mitigate it if the Thai government was proactive and forward looking.

 

By Friedrich Artur Blair

 

-- © Copyright Thai Enquirer 2023-05-31

 

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[ikke1959]

Years ago the Dutch offered help to prevent the flooding of Bangkok, but Thailand  rejected it and did not need any help.. So no complaining now.

[Celsius]

20 years ago they gave bangkok 30 years before it was submerged in water. It looks like that ain't happening.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Easy to fix, just raise the city by 1 m and dredge the rivers out.

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

Years ago the Dutch offered help to prevent the flooding of Bangkok, but Thailand  rejected it and did not need any help.. So no complaining now.

Evidence please.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Celsius said:

20 years ago they gave bangkok 30 years before it was submerged in water. It looks like that ain't happening.

At least not in every street, but wait for a good storm for a few days and reconsider those areas under a couple of meters of water, they might disagree with you.

[Celsius]

14 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

At least not in every street, but wait for a good storm for a few days and reconsider those areas under a couple of meters of water, they might disagree with you.

Not me. I like a good swim.

[hotchilli]

Just now, Celsius said:

Not me. I like a good swim.

Have you seen what comes up from the drains during a flood?

[ballpoint]

3 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Evidence please.

It's an old chestnut that's often wheeled out by Thai bashers, when the exact opposite is the truth:

 

"Thailand has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Netherlands to help tackle floods and water management".

 

Thailand taps Dutch expertise to tackle Bangkok's flooding problem (nationthailand.com)

[tubber]

3 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Evidence please.

I remember that as well  but I think things have changed. In an article from The Nation on November 26th 2022. They are now cooperating. Can I link The Nation here?

[Crossy]

Just now, tubber said:

Can I link The Nation here?

 

Yes, no problem.

[dddave]

32 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

At least not in every street, but wait for a good storm for a few days and reconsider those areas under a couple of meters of water, they might disagree with you.

Nearly came to pass ten or so years ago.  Some here will remember the 3 months that almost the entirety of non-central Bangkok spent 3 months submerged in increasingly filthy water with no place to pump it to.  I remember going to Suvarnabhumi and cars were parked on the length of both sides of the elevated highway to keep them from being submerged in local flooding.  I remember passenger aircraft parked at DMK, water up to their bellies.   Officials fight over reservoir levels because agribusinesses want enough stored for 2nd and 3rd crop cycles but when a series of big rains hit, there is no place to divert the water to. 

Edited May 31, 2023 by dddave

[tubber]

1 minute ago, Crossy said:

 

Yes, no problem.

Cheers, someone else beat me to it in the post before.

[soi3eddie]

It's not so only the threat of rising sea levels. The city is actually sinking. Water extraction and the weight of building projects is to blame.

 

[spidermike007]

4 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Years ago the Dutch offered help to prevent the flooding of Bangkok, but Thailand  rejected it and did not need any help.. So no complaining now.

Classic short sighted hubris. We are so smart, inventive, visionary, and capable, we do not need any outside help.

 

The answer is a strong yes. Bangkok is very vulnerable, as are many seaside metros like Miami, New York, San Francisco, Manila, Calcutta, Dhaka, Hanoi, Shanghai, Lagos, Tokyo, Jakarta, and many others.

 

Climate change is real, we are causing it, and sea level rise is inevitable. And we are definitely not doing enough to prevent it. We are behaving as if we have multiple alternative planets to move to, and we most emphatically do not.

 

 

 

[josephbloggs]

16 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

It's an old chestnut that's often wheeled out by Thai bashers, when the exact opposite is the truth:

 

"Thailand has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Netherlands to help tackle floods and water management".

 

Thailand taps Dutch expertise to tackle Bangkok's flooding problem (nationthailand.com)

Yes indeed, it's a TVF myth. I also had that article up my sleeve, I was just waiting for the poster to come back with a link to his story of Thailand saying they didn't need Dutch help and turning them down. It never happened.

[foreverlomsak]

Let it go back to being a flood plain, lets rebuild somewhere better where roads and other infra-structure can be constructed to suit current (if not future) demand or even better decentralize totally.

[bignok]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

But before we go rushing off to throw paint at sculptures and glueing ourselves to paintings,

Whats that got to do with anything?

[nauseus]

28 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

Let it go back to being a flood plain, lets rebuild somewhere better where roads and other infra-structure can be constructed to suit current (if not future) demand or even better decentralize totally.

A the great Tommy Cooper would have said: "Just like that!".

[LukKrueng]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

At least not in every street, but wait for a good storm for a few days and reconsider those areas under a couple of meters of water, they might disagree with you.

This has nothing to do with sea level rising. It's rain water with nowhere to drain. This problem has been here for more than 30 years. Was solved for a while when water was drained to the swamp in bangpli, but they had to build an airport right there, so nowhere for the water to go, again...

53 minutes ago, dddave said:

Nearly came to pass ten or so years ago.  Some here will remember the 3 months that almost the entirety of non-central Bangkok spent 3 months submerged in increasingly filthy water with no place to pump it to.  I remember going to Suvarnabhumi and cars were parked on the length of both sides of the elevated highway to keep them from being submerged in local flooding.  I remember passenger aircraft parked at DMK, water up to their bellies.   Officials fight over reservoir levels because agribusinesses want enough stored for 2nd and 3rd crop cycles but when a series of big rains hit, there is no place to divert the water to. 

You're talking about 2011. No official fights about agriculture. The rainy season started very slow and it was considered a drought year and therefore didn't release water from reservoirs. When more rain finally came officials worried they won't last long and kept water. By the time they realised it's not a drought they had to release water faster than the water could flow through the rivers and canals and that is what caused the floods in central Thailand, not only Bangkok

[rwill]

nothing new...

[nauseus]

46 minutes ago, dddave said:

Nearly came to pass ten or so years ago.  Some here will remember the 3 months that almost the entirety of non-central Bangkok spent 3 months submerged in increasingly filthy water with no place to pump it to.  I remember going to Suvarnabhumi and cars were parked on the length of both sides of the elevated highway to keep them from being submerged in local flooding.  I remember passenger aircraft parked at DMK, water up to their bellies.   Officials fight over reservoir levels because agribusinesses want enough stored for 2nd and 3rd crop cycles but when a series of big rains hit, there is no place to divert the water to. 

Yes, 2011/12. The problems then were not so much to do with the sea-level than forced water release from the dams within the Chao Phraya river basin system after months of extra high rainfall from a strong SW Monsoon, as well as tropical depressions delivering even more rain late in the season. Earlier release of reservoir water would have helped but then there is a risk of not having enough water reserved for the following year, if there is no late rain. 

 

The Chao Phraya does not drain well due to sandbars near Bangkok, and is tidal up to just past Ayutthaya so drainage slows or stops as the tides flood. Spring high tides can cause local flooding in any case.

 

 

[Pink Mist]

An off-topic post with non working unverifiable links and a post using the BP have been removed.

 

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[Moonlover]

1 hour ago, bignok said:

6 hours ago, webfact said:

But before we go rushing off to throw paint at sculptures and glueing ourselves to paintings,

 

1 hour ago, bignok said:

Whats that got to do with anything?

It's what 'climate change' protestors having been doing in some other countries, mainly in Europe I believe.

[Moonlover]

1 hour ago, foreverlomsak said:

Let it go back to being a flood plain, lets rebuild somewhere better where roads and other infra-structure can be constructed to suit current (if not future) demand or even better decentralize totally.

It's a possibility.

 

https://theaseanpost.com/article/bangkok-relocate

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Evidence please.

I remember this was well reported in the newspapers of the time.  (Way before internet news sites.)

[Mickeymaus]

One reason that Bangkok sinks is the sex business 

 

https://news.sky.com/story/bangkoks-mega-brothels-are-causing-the-city-to-sink-11222202#:~:text=Soapy massage parlours are illegally,lying Thai city at risk.&text=Mega-brothels are causing Bangkok,"%2C according to Thai police.

[Red Forever]

15 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

 

It's what 'climate change' protestors having been doing in some other countries, mainly in Europe I believe.

Good for them.

[JustAnotherHun]

Between 1901 and 2010 the sea level rose around 19cm. That's 1.7 mm/year.

In 2018 there was a plus of 3.7 mm.

So it'll take some time until Bangkok will be sinking, I guess.

 

[mrfill]

53 minutes ago, nauseus said:

Yes, 2011/12. The problems then were not so much to do with the sea-level than forced water release from the dams within the Chao Phraya river basin system after months of extra high rainfall from a strong SW Monsoon, as well as tropical depressions delivering even more rain late in the season. Earlier release of reservoir water would have helped but then there is a risk of not having enough water reserved for the following year, if there is no late rain. 

 

The Chao Phraya does not drain well due to sandbars near Bangkok, and is tidal up to just past Ayutthaya so drainage slows or stops as the tides flood. Spring high tides can cause local flooding in any case.

 

 

Ah! The floods of 2011/2 where the water wouldn't go into the sea so the great ideas men in Bangkok came up with the idea of pointing a raft of long-tailed boats upstream and have their engines running full bore to hurry the water to the sea.

 

Comedy gold...