'Obsolete' Weather Radar Blamed As Full Dams Worsen Thai Floods

[ResX]

Don't put words into my mouth. The dam administrations should have let water out long before the situation became critical. I am talking about a few months before the dams could no longer contain more water. Dam administrators are worried about releasing water because they are not sure if the weather will cooperate and replace what was released. We have a La Nina year and so they should have predicted that there will be lots of rain this year. The infrastructure is not the problem. It is the people that manage the infrastructure that made a bad situation worse.

Tis best to pass the blame to the weathermen than to those DAM administrators. No pun intended. This what happens when people who control the dam gates are too afraid to act preemptively to avert disasters such as this. Blamig the weather bureau is the least painful option and may even land them a hefty windfall (ha ha) such as more modern radar equipment. If I may be so bold to say - you don't need those equipment to know when to let some water out of the dam. But then common sense is not common.

So, you advocate letting water out as needed based on the current level of the dam_n? Well, then you should be happy to know that is what they did. Without proper radar and forecasting you are simply left with reacting and not strategically planning. The dam_n situation is just one of many issues that could have been handled better but the bottom line is this was a very bad monsoon season and that is what caused the flooding ... which would be much worse if the infrastructure was not in place. Thailand is just one of a number of countries having severe flooding problems from this season's monsoon.

Let me tell you briefly what information shall be there before a multi purpose dam is developed. (1) average yield from the catchment (2) a 7-hour the most peak inflow (3) a 1000 -year ARI that defines the highest flood flow with return probability 1 in 1000years (4) Probable maximum flood (PMF) -This is the highest possible flood that the dam designer is anticipated to deal with. This is required to ensure the structure can withstand this a huge amount of water that coming to the reservoir and spillway release can be correctly sized. (5) Demands : (a) Power generation ( Flood control © Irrigation (d) Navigation (e) tourism (f) riparian... etc. That is why it size is huge.

There is enough share for everybody. If should be enough if you give what due to each stakeholder. Too bad. One of the stakeholders by its nature has a great tendency to be given second class treatment. A share for flood control. Why? Simple... You don't get money for doing that. The reservoir is well protected against the Probable Maximum Flood with all that big spillway gates. Keeping the more water means more money. Power generation will become more efficient. More electricity can be generated. The risk to have drought becomes less......

You know where it is going to lead if you don't regulate reservoirs operations tightly. I would say RELIGIOUSLY. It is not about money. It is about rights of all state holders.

Edited October 18, 2011 by ResX