Riverwatch 2013

[dave2]

re

When you mentioned the crud coming down the river, were you in any way referring to the chart watchers who do such an unstanding job???

nahh i mean the tree branches logs bamboo poles etc that floats down from upstream

which caused the first leg of the warrarat

market footbridge to move about two inches downstream 26 october 11 and was closed permenently and finaly demolished 7 feb 13

ive no idea why the built the flood gates / dam in pedad when they should have put it in san phi suea / faham or anywhere north of there !

maybe someone important lives in pedad and thats why theyve spent millions of baht protecting it ?

but what do i know ? i was a lorry driver not a water flow expert !

dave2

[WinnieTheKhwai]

ive no idea why the built the flood gates / dam in pedad when they should have put it in san phi suea / faham or anywhere north of there !

maybe someone important lives in pedad and thats why theyve spent millions of baht protecting it ?

but what do i know ? i was a lorry driver not a water flow expert !

I believe I've explained that in an earlier post.

(Hint: you can't just put a water gate in and turn off a river like you would a tap. )

(Reference: the movable gate replaces a fixed dam-like structure that obstructed water flow. This one can be opened, when needed.)

I'll drive past there today and maybe take a current picture.

[jonwilly]

"the movable gate replaces a fixed dam-like structure that obstructed water flow."

Was this the 'wier' that I understand was installed years ago so that in the Dry season there was still enough water in the Ping to allow the long tailed boats to operate ?

Don't suppose we will get a flood like 2011 or 05, now they where real Floods.

john

[Dante99]

Anybody know the water level at Mae Ngat Dam? If it is high, watch out.

[slapout]

"the movable gate replaces a fixed dam-like structure that obstructed water flow."

Was this the 'wier' that I understand was installed years ago so that in the Dry season there was still enough water in the Ping to allow the long tailed boats to operate ?

Don't suppose we will get a flood like 2011 or 05, now they where real Floods.

john

The gate system that has been installed (over the past few years) would seem to be another example of putting lipstick on a pig. It does what the old weir did (hold the Ping river water level high enough) to cover the trash, etc on the river bed as well as keeping the level high enough to facilitate the river dinner boats, etc.

It would seem it is a lock appearing system, which is more cosmetic looking, but does absolutly nothing more than the old weir. If the ping level rises to flood stage, its due to water release/runoff above Chiang Mai, if the new gate system were to be closed, it would, in effect worsen the flooding in Chaing Mai itself, as there is no catchment basin for water to be backed into other than the city itself.

Maybe our local/member investigate reporter could do a little snooping and determine cost, companies involved, etc for our enlightenment. on this project as well as numerous other continuing projects on the local level.

[Greenside]

The volume of water passing Narawat Bridge more than trebled while the level at Narawat rose by 89cm over the last 24 hours. It's still rising by 3 or 4 cm per hour so if no slow down 28 - 38 hours will bring it up to the flood point although where that would now be is another question since they've got at least some of the previous weak points bagged or barricaded already.

[Gonzo the Face]

Maybe we are now on the hold area... The reading at San Sai has held for a bit and now starting to drop. We usually follow that trend with about a 3 hour delay.... Should tell with the 3PM or 4PM posting. Lets hope so.

[ovenman]

Maybe we are now on the hold area... The reading at San Sai has held for a bit and now starting to drop. We usually follow that trend with about a 3 hour delay.... Should tell with the 3PM or 4PM posting. Lets hope so.

The rain seems to have let up here for the time being anyway and the Lamphun weather radar is overall fairly clear at the moment.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

If the ping level rises to flood stage, its due to water release/runoff above Chiang Mai, if the new gate system were to be closed, it would, in effect worsen the flooding in Chaing Mai itself, as there is no catchment basin for water to be backed into other than the city itself.

LOL, right. :-) Just like airplanes landing would in effect be worse when they don't lower the landing gear. But clearly they're opening them when needed.

Such as, for example, now. :-)

[WinnieTheKhwai]

One more.

[Gonzo the Face]

I'm sure there is a strong reason for the elaborate housing over the gates.... .... Oh yeah equipment room, or maybe even room for some future restaurant. Quite elaborate..... Do have the feeling that the whole thing was to fatten certain pockets.

[dave2]

re

Should tell with the 3PM or 4PM posting. Lets hope so.

an update !

pic 1 .. taken 11 20 this morning

pic 2 .. taken 4 20 this afternoon

with i recon about a 3 inch rise in 5

hours !

pic 3 .. the waters really sweeping over

the road by warrarat now !

dave2

[Gonzo the Face]

I would say that unless we get some sudden unexpected amount of rainfall the worst should be over for this round. The flood levels have been dropping on the San Sai for 4 or 5 hours now and have held and dropped here on our river for the past couple hrs. I would say sleep not to tight and don't worry unless you hear some heavy rainfall ...... Hopefully tomorrow morning it will have dropped considerably.

G

[Jowels]

........ Hopefully tomorrow morning it will have dropped considerably.

G

Gonzo - Any update?

I live just up the road from you at Rimping condo, but I'm currently overseas. If it looks like flooding, I'd like to make sure my wife has got some supplies in.

[Gonzo the Face]

........ Hopefully tomorrow morning it will have dropped considerably.

G

Gonzo - Any update?

I live just up the road from you at Rimping condo, but I'm currently overseas. If it looks like flooding, I'd like to make sure my wife has got some supplies in.

Hi Jowels

The river level has dropped about 9cm from yesterday evening.....and has been holding at the same level for about 5 hrs now. Upstream has shown some drop in levels there and should reflect on us in the next hour or two......

Re your wife getting supplies....... don't worry..... just you keep sending money and she can get all the food she wants from The Pun Pun.....

Speaking of that on a more serious note..... I do have a customer who lives in the Rimping who regularily stocks up on frozen foods from us that the just pops in his micro wave when he feels the urge..... there is always more ways to skin a fish

We will keep a watch on the river....

PS If Ms Jowels should pop by tell her to use your screen name and get a 10% discount.......

[just couldn't possibly miss the chance to sneak that in as a late thought]

Edited August 12, 2013 by Gonzo the Face

[slapout]

One more.

PANO_20130811_140817_20130811150742965.jpg

As I remember, one of Chiang Mai's worst floods came when the gates were opened (too fast and too much) upstream, realizing this, the 'operator' absconded. The history of predictable and controlled flow rates is somewhat 'iffy' with some of the 'water contol mechanics'.on the Ping system.

With the new human controlled floodgate?? as it is sometmes called, below Chaing Mai and the dams, upstream, we have added another link into the human equation of river blockage or "batten down the hatches, here she comes" mentality.

One of the most thought provoking statements I heard, as a young manager was, "If you want to reduce lost time, mistakes, and most problems , get rid of the stupids on the payroll"

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Let's do some video. This is Sunday.

(Best to set it to 720p resolution or it looks crap)

It's actually a rather nice spot to watch the water. Some people are fishing there, or going there with some food and whiskey by the looks of it.

All in all I like this time of year; it's when the Ping river finally resembles a river, and not some sort of elongated pond.

Edited August 12, 2013 by WinnieTheKhwai

[Gonzo the Face]

Interesting happenings on the river. Re the flood level reading chart online, the Mae Ping at the Narawat Br. reading is usually approx 3 hours behind the reading from San Sai. It has alway been a good barometer to guesstimate what the next couple hours will be doing, re the river here in CM.

But in the years of following this river flow chart I have never seen this. From 7AM this morning til 4PM this afternoon the river level reading at San Sai had Dropped by 27 cm. The oddity is that at the Narawat Br. the reading level has Increased by 2cm.

Don't know what is causing this ..... maybe a massive amount of rain just to the north of the Narawat...... don't think so.......maybe a human error in reading or posting on the chart....... possible,........ or maybe water is being released from a dam to the north of us..... also possible.......

Don't know ,. just that I have never seen this before.

G

Edited August 12, 2013 by Gonzo the Face

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Well, those water gates at Pa Daed do provide additional controls. So among the things different this year, that could be it. You might expect something like that if in response to reduced water flow, the gates could be closed a little more, for a while.

(This is a wild guess, not based on any observation)

[Jowels]

........ Hopefully tomorrow morning it will have dropped considerably.

G

Gonzo - Any update?

I live just up the road from you at Rimping condo, but I'm currently overseas. If it looks like flooding, I'd like to make sure my wife has got some supplies in.

Hi Jowels

The river level has dropped about 9cm from yesterday evening.....and has been holding at the same level for about 5 hrs now. Upstream has shown some drop in levels there and should reflect on us in the next hour or two......

Re your wife getting supplies....... don't worry..... just you keep sending money and she can get all the food she wants from The Pun Pun.....

Speaking of that on a more serious note..... I do have a customer who lives in the Rimping who regularily stocks up on frozen foods from us that the just pops in his micro wave when he feels the urge..... there is always more ways to skin a fish

We will keep a watch on the river....

PS If Ms Jowels should pop by tell her to use your screen name and get a 10% discount.......

[just couldn't possibly miss the chance to sneak that in as a late thought]

Thanks for the update and the offer of a 10% discount.

I'll be back in Chiang Mai later this week, and I'll probably pop by at the weekend. Hopefully, I won't need a canoe to get there.

[Greenside]

At about 5:30 this afternoon on the opposite bank to WTK's viewpoint above. The level at Narawat Bridge was 2.54m and the discharge 210m³ per second when these were taken - that's about half the volume of water of the quoted danger level.

The good news for those living on the Saraphi side of the river hereabouts is that someone seems to have found enough cash to at least purchase the concrete piling that will hopefully limit or even prevent early flooding in the area. It's probably too late to make a difference this year (one wonders why they left it so late seeing as they have known about it for some 600 years) but will be very welcome to everyone around here. There are now about 200 of these 12 metre monsters stacked along the bank from Wat Chedi Liem to the new control gates, awaiting a pile driver.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Greenside

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Awesome pics!

[beau thai]

levels at Nawarat and flow rates well up this morning- 2,23 metres and 208.7 compared with the more usual 1.5m and 150 flow.

Must of p*ssed down while I zzzz'd last night. Google www.hydro-net.1/08HYDRO/HD-06 to see. (sorry-cant make the link work)

vaguely interesting to bookmark and see how it changes-especially if you live near the Ping river!! Sure looks wider and faster today.

Edited September 9, 2013 by beau thai

[Greenside]

Link at the top of the thread.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Greenside

[Gonzo the Face]

levels at Nawarat and flow rates well up this morning- 2,23 metres and 208.7 compared with the more usual 1.5m and 150 flow.

Must of p*ssed down while I zzzz'd last night. Google www.hydro-net.1/08HYDRO/HD-06 to see. (sorry-cant make the link work)

vaguely interesting to bookmark and see how it changes-especially if you live near the Ping river!! Sure looks wider and faster today.

It is up quite a bit this morning..... but I guess the non dedicated flood chart readers will wait until the flood is on the streets then holler wolf wolf..... then go back and fill in the blanks.

River levels had been historically this year about 1.35 m....... it seems that the flood control gates south of the city, [after the water passes the city] have brought this average level up about 7 - 10 cm's to about 1.45m since they seem to have been put into place.

But a logical person would think that a fast rising river would have at least one person to post a hourly reading rather than after the fact. or every 6 or 12 hours. As of right now 9:27 am there is one reading at 6Am. Really feel bad that they had to get up and work that hard.

But lets not expect too much ...

[Greenside]

They must have been monitoring this thread! The missing readings just magically appeared which show the level rising at about 1cm per hour this morning.

[T_Dog]

The irrigation canal which is diverted from the Mae Taeng river is running higher up here than I have ever seen it. No flooding in the area reported but will post if it starts to happen. If I recall, it takes about 20 hours for the crest on the Mae Ping to reach Chiang Mai from the Mae Taeng area.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Wont. Happen.

Didn't you see recent news articles about all the main reservoirs being at record lows? That means the only thing that's passing is very recent rain, not releases from the basins. And that means it's completely controlled through the new gates.

[Gonzo the Face]

Wont. Happen.

Didn't you see recent news articles about all the main reservoirs being at record lows? That means the only thing that's passing is very recent rain, not releases from the basins. And that means it's completely controlled through the new gates.

Yeah sure,,,,,,, when the river runs backwards.

[T_Dog]

Wont. Happen.

Didn't you see recent news articles about all the main reservoirs being at record lows? That means the only thing that's passing is very recent rain, not releases from the basins. And that means it's completely controlled through the new gates.

With the flooding two years ago, Mae Ngat Dam was not very full either. They had normal discharge rates but the Mae Ping river from Chiang Dao and the Mae Taeng River from the mountains to the west got hit by heavy sustained rain. The levels in the dams don't have much to do with flooding in Chiang Mai. Fortunately, we haven't seen rain like that for quite a while.