Better planning, more research needed before Thai water project: academics

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WATER PROJECT
Better planning, more research needed before water project: academics
Erich Parpart
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Academics have stressed the importance of planning and research - possibly for another year - on the proposed government water-management programme, along with the setting up of a special body to oversee the projects.

Speaking at a seminar yesterday organised by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), Sucharit Koontanakulvong, a professor in the department of water resource engineering at Chulalongkorn University, said the possibility of a lack of water in the future due to increased demand could hold back economic growth. There is also a need to prepare for future disasters due to climate change, which should be part of the master plan for future water management.

He said this master plan needed to be flexible, dynamic, and adaptive, while at the same time it should be able to control the demand and supply of water to cope with future uncertainties.

Sucharit said the problems with the current water-management plans were overlapping policies, legal and regulatory barriers, different designs for each plan, and a lack of connection among the policies. There is also a lack of consideration of environmental impacts. Proposals for budget disbursement and the methods of paying compensation would operate separately and under old models.

"There are gaps between the different policies, and we are playing football without a team," he said.

Sucharit recommended, for the short term, the drafting next year of a five-year Water Development Plan similar to the Energy Development Plan, and establishment of a "superboard" to oversee water-management projects and investments. His long-term plan included the passing of a Water Act to manage the Water and Land Use Agency along with the creation of a Water Board and an operational regulator similar to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

Seri Suparatit, a flood expert from Rangsit University, said there was a need for improvement in seasonal forecasting in order to come up with a more efficient plan for water management. He also called for more research on climate-change adaptation and disaster risk reduction to cope with future uncertainties. Therefore, the National Council for Peace and Order should postpone for another year the introduction of a master plan for water management.

"What is urgent can be done first, but the long-term plans within the Bt350-billion mega-project should be revised, and it should take a year to hash out the details of the master plan," he said.

Nipon Poapongsakorn, a distinguished fellow at the TDRI, said the future master plan for water management had to show clearly who would benefit and who would lose out from the government mega-project, while the mindset regarding compensation for people who are affected by such projects should also be changed.

The thinking that some people should sacrifice for the greater good should be eradicated, he said.

He recommended that the National Reform Committee hold public discussions of the water-management programme including experts, benefactors, and those who will be affected, on the possible options of the projects, and to show clearly the projects' impact on the people and the surrounding environment.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Better-planning-more-research-needed-before-water--30241286.html


-- The Nation 2014-08-20

[chainarong]

This is a step in the right direction, General Prayuth would be well advised to listen to what the Academic's have to say, these mega projects need more than a casual approach in design and operation, proper planning prevents piss poor performance , in this case is the answer to the substandard , stupid water mitigation programme of the previous government, this is an important infrastructure for Thailand, its not pretty and not a vote buyer, but highly important to Thailand's future, go figure.

[Strangebrew]

Simple don't raise the bridge lower the river Dredging would go a long way in improving the water flow out. And at a fraction or the cost to reroute water flow least impact on farmers and land grabs. Oh wait logicial cause Farang come up with it so in 20 years a thai will say it and it will be smart solution.

[sgtsabai]

Dredging would only work to a certain degree. Elevation has to be considered in gravity flow. Deeper works when you start higher than where you plan to end up. Sea level is always a problem in low elevations. Dredging has one advantage, it allows for more water to be contained, even if it won't flow except when pushed by a surge. Envioromental concernces also come into play, where does the dirt or sludge go? Expansion of size also will help with the containment of flood waters. We had ditches that still flowed even though they were underwater. Flood gates to stop the sea water from coming up stream, especially during storm surge. One local drainage district had massive pumps to push the water out. Much of the area was actually below sea level. Ours relied on gravity. The survey work to properly conduct drainage flow would take years, even with many teams. That has to be done before anything else, although planning should continue during that stage based on known elevations. GPS isn't accurate enough for elevation drainage studies, although it can be used with a +/- error, just not for setting elevations, boundry yes. Elevation has to be done the old way. Much of the drainage problems I see are poor maintence of ditches, small size of existing drainage in the cities. The disruption of life in the cities, cost and planning in the cities to fix would be enormous. The longer the wait to fix the more the cost. Thailand faces a complex long term problem that with the building of more and more house, stores, etc. where there were rice paddies will only get worse. Those paddies used to hold rain water, it has to go somewhere.