Life On The River

[Gonzo the Face]

From The Just Wondering Department

I have lived on the Ping River now for quite a few years. I also acknowledge that flooding is part of life on the river. In my particular location on the river, not too far north of the US Consulate, we have been flooded 7 times now since and including the 1st big one on the morning of the 14th of August, this year. Let me repeat that, 7 times.

Each and every of these flooding instances, causes a certain amount of financial damage, at least a modest amount of reworking of premises, and a tremendous amount of mental aggravation and strain.

Going back now at least 18 years, of which I am personally aware, we have had flooding, Usually at the rate of one, and possibly 2 on a bad year. So in essence, this year is different, not just a little different, but drastically different.

Depending on who you ask, you can receive a wide variety of 'cause excuses'. You get the global warming crowd, the EGAT opening the dam crowd, the locks stuck open or broken dam bunch, and many more 100% valid and honest to gosh truth excuses/reasons/causes.

Maybe its true, at least a little, in all the above. But how about giving this one some serious thought for a moment.

My observations:

This year we have had many more instances of flooding than ususal.

This year we have been left with much more residue, the mud after the flood

This year this residue seems to be somewhat different than in past years. The difference being it is a much more finer silt than usual. Almost like it was a over saturated dust..

This residue is much more fertile than in the previous years. Within approximately 3 days after the flood has receded, you are able to see a very lush growth of green grass starting to sprout and it grows very quickly.

My thoughts:

There is a tremendous amount of forest being cut, much more than is being reported. Cut and cleared for what ever reason, but the prime factor being someone's or groups, financial gain. This to the detriment of many, many others, down river.

I sincerely feel that this fine quality silt is fine quality top soil that is being washed down river, much more than in past years. I think that in addition to the inundation of the surrounding riverbanks with this silt, it is also settling in the river bottom and making the river much more shallow. It would seem logical to me that if the river was more shallow, then when the next river rising came it would , starting from a higher lever , reach yet a higher level of flooding.

At my personal location, the water has never, in my time, reached such a level in height, that it has come all the way through the property and come out into the street in front. It has now 3 times this year! Three times out of the seven floods.

Two days ago, I happened to be driving past the US Consulate and looked out into the river. There to my shock was a huge shovel dipping it boom arm out into the river and scooping up a bucket full of muck and mud and swinging ninety degrees into the center of the river and dumping its load. To me this seemed a little ludicrous, but what the hay, this is Thailand. But what really shocked me was that the shovel was in the middle of the river itself. NOT ON A DREDGING BARGE but on its own tracks and was only in approximately 50 to 75 cm depth. It obviously drove out there on its own power. So my question is what is happening to the river bottom and if it is, as is obvious to me, filling in the river bottom, what can we expect from the future rains or raining seasons?

I would appreciate any reply from some of you engineering types to listen to your thoughts.

[stateman]

You may not realize that u have a very fertile land, with nourishment regularly replenished! If u cultivate the land, u may make out rich!

On a more serious note, I feel your pain Gonzo the Face about the multiple floods. There has been much concern and talks in CM. Much supposed to happen to resolve the issue.

You are probably right about your observation of the top soil, etc. Some locals posted that there were major commercialization of large track of land north of the city- the person didn’t elaborate.

If what you saw was dredging for deepening and widening the river, as the government announded recently, then the silt/mud should definitely be removed - no two ways about it. But I am not sure what you saw was for that. There was a quote of ‘B600million budget to build walls along the Ping River.’ from a local posting. Don’t know if what u saw being dredged was for this project. At any rate, it should have been in the contract by the authority to require the contractor to haul away the dredged mud. Unfortunately much of these projects are done through polititicians, bypassing the proper engineering oversights.

From http://www.manager.co.th/Local/ViewNews.as...D=9480000109952 , the PM gave interview that the problem with flood of August 14, 2005 was from forest cutting and encroachingment of the Ping river banks (both sides).

The Wildlife Fund, Thailand recognized the encroachment on public land resulting in much loss to forest land, topsoil, etc. [http://www.wildlifefund.or.th/mae_ping1.html ]

The government attempted to prosecute those involved. There was a total of 31 encroachment cases. On November 3, 2005, prosecutors dropped charges on 7 out of 12 lawsuits currently in court, citing lack of cooperation from local authorities (at provice , municipality and tambon level) to provide evidence.

Another issue given by the PM as cause for flood, was some small rock dams blocking the water paths after the major dredging of the Ping river 2 years ago. –PM ordered the army to remove such rock dam overnight in mid-August 2005. [These rock dams are small dams which locals call ‘Fai’, not the kind of concrete major dam you may envision. Maybe more like rock piles.]. Subsequent local opinions were that the 3 additional small dams ordered for demolition had been there for decades and were down-river from CM city, and didn’t contribute to any blocking of runoffs. Locals claimed the real intent was to clear the waterway for future river tours of CM toward some historic sites, along the theme of the Thames or Seine river tours.

[Gonzo the Face]

From The Just Wondering Department

Depending on who you ask, you can receive a wide variety of 'cause excuses'.  You get the global warming crowd, the EGAT opening the dam crowd, the locks stuck open or broken dam bunch, and many more 100% valid and honest to gosh truth excuses/reasons/causes.

My thoughts:

There is a tremendous amount of forest being cut, much more than is being reported.  Cut and cleared for what ever reason, but the prime factor being someone's or groups, financial gain.  This  to the detriment of many, many others, down river.

I sincerely feel that this fine quality silt is fine quality top soil that is being washed down river, much more than in past years.  I think that in addition to the inundation of the surrounding riverbanks with this silt, it is also settling in the river bottom and making the river much more shallow. It would seem logical to me that if the river was more shallow, then when the next river rising came it would , starting from a higher lever , reach yet a higher level of flooding.

Two days ago, I happened to be driving past the US Consulate and looked out into the river.  There to my shock was a huge shovel dipping it boom arm out into the river and scooping up a bucket full of muck and mud and swinging ninety degrees into the center of the river and dumping its load.  To me this seemed a little ludicrous, but what the hay, this is Thailand. But what really shocked me was that the shovel was in the middle of the river itself.  NOT ON A DREDGING BARGE but on its own tracks and was only in approximately 50 to 75 cm depth.  It obviously drove out there on its own power.  So my question is what is happening to the river bottom and if it is, as is obvious to me, filling in the river bottom,  what can we expect from the future rains or raining seasons?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

See I told you the river was filling up with soft silt like mud

or is the

US Consulate putting in an emergency escape tunnel

or are the folks at the market just planting potatos closer to Muang Mai Market ??

Edited November 28, 2005 by Gonzo the Face