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CHULA SEMINAR
Academics question govt's approach to flood prevention
Tanpisit Lerdbamrungchai
The Nation

Lecturer says designs faulty; floodwall project 'threatens' major river

BANGKOK: -- Various stakeholders and prominent academics yesterday called for a review of the government's Bt350billion water-management and flood-prevention modules.

The modules, they complained, ran against academic principles, excluded proper public participation, and threatened to cause many problems.

"The Water and Flood Management Commission should involve all relevant parties in designing the modules," Thailand Water Partnership Foundation's secretary-general Man Purotakhanon said at a seminar yesterday.

Held at Chulalongkorn University (CU), the seminar sought to scrutinise the Bt350billion mega projects from academic perspectives.

CU lecturer Chaiyuth Sukhsri said the approach taken by the government for the country's water management and flood prevention systems was not accepted academically.

Assoc Prof Komsan Maleesee, a deputy dean at the Faculty of Engineering at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, complained that all of the government's urgent flood-prevention projects had problems.

"Construction of these projects goes ahead without proper design," he pointed out.

He was speaking after the Uthai Thani Tourism Association's vice president Sathien Paewattanakul expressed concern that the ongoing floodwall project in his hometown had filled much of the Sakaekrang River.

"The river used to be between 50 and 70 metres wide. But the project has been filling a part of the river. The river is [dropping to] just 30 and 50 metres wide," Komsan said.

He said since the construction started, a huge number of aquatic animals had died.

"Now, locals can no longer catch prawns from the river," he said.

He said the ongoing construction also threatened the existence of floating houses by the river.

"The Sakaekrang River is now Thailand's only river to have floating houses along both sides of its banks. Why don't we conserve it?" Komsan said.

He said he did not intend to object to the government's plan to provide better flood-prevention and water-management systems in the country.

"But really, the government should consult affected people too," Komsan said.

He said the government should not look at the issue from just one angle. "Please think about the impact on local ways of life too," he said.

Komsan said that apart from hurting the way of life around the Sakaekrang River, the project looked set to fail in its objective of preventing flooding.

"If you take some 20-metre-wide area from the river along its stretch, overflowing can be expected because the river becomes much narrower," he said.

He also warned that the narrower river also meant a more intense velocity of flowing water.

"Are you sure the floodwall can withstand that velocity?" he asked.

Komsan added that if cement chunks were to slip off into the river, they would obstruct the water flow.

"Then, flooding would arise," he said.

Man also emphasised the need to ensure proper environmental health impact assessments.


-- The Nation 2013-05-15

[Bellweather]

It's hard not to question this government's approach to everything.

[culicine]

I guess when pockets are going to be lined, who needs or wants Environmental Impact Assessments? Start with proper zoning - stop building in ricefields and other natural water storage areas. Thailand still has a long way to go in terms of sustainable environmental management.

[Longtooth]

Up in Chiangrai, the only land outside of town that has proper chanotes is the rice fields. Little hills don't have chanotes. Issue chanotes for ALL land, and people will quit taking down hills and tearing up the roads as they move the dirt from the hill to fill in the previously lovely rice field. Just a thought.

[SNGLIFE]

The solution is blatantly obvious: SAND STOPS FLOODS!

A few truckloads dumped in front of Government House so they can collectively stick their heads in it...

[Chrisswe]

This Academics, what's theres duty, Complain ? They should shown theres knowledge and skills and give some suggestion how to solve this problem !!

[Thaddeus]

This Academics, what's theres duty, Complain ? They should shown theres knowledge and skills and give some suggestion how to solve this problem !!

How do you know they haven't tried?

[AleG]

This Academics, what's theres duty, Complain ? They should shown theres knowledge and skills and give some suggestion how to solve this problem !!

I had a friend studying at the Asian Institute of Technology, water management and flood prevention. What she told me , from the academics there, was the politicians and big wigs disregarded the experts in favour of their own self serving decisions. That was the main cause of the 2012 floods.

[Robby nz]

Where I live they have built or are building a fair length of new wall along the river but this will only push the flooding farther upstream and from there it will go round the wall and continue on its way down hill to where it flooded last time.

That is what happened last flood and the one before however the previous year they were able to prevent a lot of the town being flooded by using sand bags.

Now where the new wall starts is not in such an easy place to sand bag off, however we will have to wait till it does flood to see what happens.

[bigbamboo]

Now the academic 'garbage' are making waves too..... and not in the right direction as far as Plod is concerned.

[hellodolly]

What the @*$!)&^+ Has academia got to do with it. When the Netherlands offered help they were the ones who told the government we didn't need them.

[pastitche]

What the @*$!)&^+ Has academia got to do with it. When the Netherlands offered help they were the ones who told the government we didn't need them.

Perhaps that was because the Netherlands expertise was indunation from the sea.

[rametindallas]

This is what happens when you design a project to fill a budget request instead of needs. The government has spent way more time working on the 'skim' than on what is needed to fix the long-term flooding problems. In my home state of Louisiana (long time reputation for corruption) we had a governor named Huey Long. He was a populist similar to the ruling party in Thailand now. Every project he funded costs 30% more the it should have BUT he completed them and he did them well and most of those projects are serving the state today 70 years later. There is corruption and there is corruption. Thai people are not against corruption if it helps them. I think the corruption of this government serves no one but the politicians and their cronies.

[DeepInTheForest]

What the @*$!)&^+ Has academia got to do with it. When the Netherlands offered help they were the ones who told the government we didn't need them.

Do you have a link to this? I would appreciate seeing it, because I cannot find evidence of it on the internet.

from the "Dutch Water Sector" website, www.dutchwatersector.com :

Dutch authorities helped Thai authorities to combat Bangkok floods

“Not re-active but pro-active, that’s the way we have assisted the Flood Relief Operations Center in Bangkok”, recall Adri Verwey and Tjitte Nauta of the research and specialist consultancy institute Deltares for coastal areas and river basins.

Initially the two Dutch flood experts were asked by chief of operations for evacuation and flood prevention, minister Plodprasop, to advise him and his staff only.

But as the flood crises intensified late October and Bangkok came under serious threat, more Thai authorities were involved. Verwey and Nauta saw their advisory role expanded to more ministries and other authorities such as the Royal Irrigation Department and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority.

Verwey was frequently asked to attend top level meetings with the army staff and prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Both flood experts look back on a very successful mission…

http://www.dutchwate...bangkok-floods/

more:

THAILAND: Two days in the life of an urban flood expert

As 16 billion cubic metres of flood water bore down on Bangkok in early October, international experts flew in to help the government deal with an unprecedented potential calamity.

One was Adri Verwey, an urban flood specialist from the Netherlands...

.... But for Verwey, the job is far from complete.

"We can expect the flood to continue to recede, but it will still take quite some time before outer Bangkok is completely dry," he said. "What is needed next is a thorough analysis of what has happened and how such a flood can be prevented in the future."

In December he and his colleagues will help the government draft a new plan for water resources management for the Chao Phraya Basin - which covers 30 percent of the country and houses 40 percent of the population.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report/94367/THAILAND-Two-days-in-the-life-of-an-urban-flood-expert

Edited May 17, 2013 by DeepInTheForest