Bangkok’s Underground Drainage Tunnel Will Be Opened In September Next Year

[Jai Dee]

Bangkok’s underground drainage tunnel will be opened in September next year

Bangkok’s underground drainage tunnel being built as part of a long-term flood prevention plan will be opened in September next year.

Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin (อภิรักษ์ โกษะโยธิน) said the tunnel, which is 35 metres deep into the ground, will drain water from Makkasan pond into the Chao Phraya river. Construction costs about two billion baht, Mr. Apirak said.

He said the tunnel will help prevent flooding in the inner city and several main roads because it has the capacity to pump 45 million cubic meters of water per second.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 25 August 2006

[chownah]

The average discharge of the Nile is 2,830 cubic metres per second (Wikipedia)

The average discharge of the Columbia River is 7400 cubic metres per second (Wikipedia)

The average discharge of the Mississippi Riveris 12,740 cubic metres per second (Wikipedia)

The Mekong discharges 475 km³ of water annually (Wikipedia)

...that's about 40 km³ per month

...that's about 1.32 km³ per day

...that's about 0.055 km³ per hour

...that's about 0.00092 km³ per minute

...that's about 0.000015 km³ per second

...that's about 15,000 cubic metres per second

From the article:

"He said the tunnel will help prevent flooding in the inner city and several main roads because it has the capacity to pump 45 million cubic meters of water per second."

I really doubt that the engineers in Bangkok have built a tunnel that can carry 3,000 times the flowrate of the Mekong river...35 metres underground in Bangkok!

[Scott]

I suggest that they also locate some of the street vendors in the tunnel. After all, they can't let water run through such a magnificant structure, can they?

[Ijustwannateach]

Good catch, Chownah... Assuming something saner, but still very large, like 500 cubic meters a second, a 4500000 cubic meter flood would be taken care of in about 25 hours... so maybe that's the *total* flood they're expecting and the minister just tripped over his tongue.

[kalaminsa]

Quite impressive ! 45 million cubic metres/second

thats equivilant to a tunnel of 670 * 670 metres carrying water at 360 km/hour ..

Have they really checked if there is not a danger in undermining all of bangkok ?

[kalaminsa]

Put those pumps in reverse and you could empty all of the worlds oceans in just under one year !

Volume of all the oceans =1.37 billion cubic kilometres , which would be pumped in 352 days !

I wonder were they will find the power to supply those pumps ??

[Chang_paarp]

Even if someone was not listening to the engineers very well and got the units wrong, 45Mil Litres a second would be a very big engineering feat.

[chownah]

Even if someone was not listening to the engineers very well and got the units wrong, 45Mil Litres a second would be a very big engineering feat.

You are correct, sir!!....a very very big engineering feat.

If an engineer could build a pipe that was 60 metres in diameter so that its discharge was aimed upward and then pumped water through it at 45 million cubic metres per second the velocity of the water would exceed the earth's escape velocity and you could not only put all the earth's water in orbit but you could ship it all to the moon, or Mars....or places beyond........this sort of gives "water rights" a new meaning.

On the other hand if you aimed it downward it might very well be able to tunnel to the other side of the earth like a giant water cutting tool....The famous author Lewis Carrol (Through the Looking Glass or better known as Alice in Wonderland) was a mathematician and he did some calculations about building such a tunnel.....through the center of the earth, not with a giant water cutting tool.

Chownah

[leisurely]

As long as it helps to stop the flooding I will be happy. Maybe then the police won't stop me and blame ME and me alone on the floods that are occuring because I dropped a ciggy outside empo.

[fxm88]

...will drain water from Makkasan pond into the Chao Phraya river.

Since the Chao Phraya already floods pretty badly (Monkey Cheeks?) won't this just make it worse? Won't it just be shifting the problem to another group of people?

[chownah]

Just thought I'd inject a ray of hope into the soggy atmosphere in Bangkok today.......45 million cubic metres per second would remove all of the water which entered Bangkok in the last couple of days in a matter of seconds!!!! Almost as good as magic.

[alexth]

Just thought I'd inject a ray of hope into the soggy atmosphere in Bangkok today.......45 million cubic metres per second would remove all of the water which entered Bangkok in the last couple of days in a matter of seconds!!!! Almost as good as magic.

And since I don't believe in magic...

Edited October 10, 2006 by alexth