TDRI's Niphon blames political interference in 2011 for today's water crisis

[casualbiker]

“The problem was that water management then was in the hands of politicians not the professionals,” said Mr Niphon.

So now its in the hands of soldiers and not the professionals. Are we any better off?

Thanks to those politicians aligned with the PTP (not PTP itself) my home was flooded. Had they not opened the dams like that now there would have been far more water.

Also the rice pledging made sure that more water was needed as people wanted to plant rice.. so yes the guy is right that its because of politicians.

As for your remark now its in the hands of soldiers.. I am not sure if they override the professionals.. if so its just as bad.

You really believe what you say?

He has to, otherwise the blame Yingluck strategy fails.

It is unfortunate that the reporter didn't point out that the reservoirs are typically at full capacity after one rainy season. 4 years have passed and during that time, there have been several floods. These floods were of course blamed on the former government. There were floods because the reservoirs were full and could not hold water. Now, all of a sudden this drought is caused by a lack of water from 4 1/2 years ago.

This expert is an illustration of why Thailand cannot manage its water resources. The whole lot of them are intellectually challenged.

Are you 100% sure that the reservoirs are full after one rainy season?

I remember seeing pictures showing low levels last year and the year before! Obviously SOME do fill up but ALL!

[halloween]

He has to, otherwise the blame Yingluck strategy fails.

It is unfortunate that the reporter didn't point out that the reservoirs are typically at full capacity after one rainy season. 4 years have passed and during that time, there have been several floods. These floods were of course blamed on the former government. There were floods because the reservoirs were full and could not hold water. Now, all of a sudden this drought is caused by a lack of water from 4 1/2 years ago.

This expert is an illustration of why Thailand cannot manage its water resources. The whole lot of them are intellectually challenged.

Once you eliminate the casual lies, your post becomes worthless.

" reservoirs are typically at full capacity after one rainy season." that would depend on the amount of rain that fell in the season, and the amount being taken out for rice growing. Higher rice scam prices led to greatly increased usage, and there have been no "heavy" seasons since 2011.

"4 years have passed and during that time, there have been several floods" But those floods weren't on the Chao Praya or its tributaries were they?

"There were floods because the reservoirs were full and could not hold water." Cite us one instance. Mostly they were localised flooding or in areas without reservoirs.

"this drought is caused by a lack of water from 4 1/2 years ago." Actually its about far greater water usage, reducing of dam lower limits to allow for greater usage, and lack of a really heavy wet season, followed by an el Nino event, something predicted years ago.

Yingluk's rice scam just keeps on giving.

[rametindallas]

I am not a hydrologist (not even sure if that's the correct term), so can someone who has some knowledge in this field please tell me why we have a problem now?

Political interference in 2011, OK instructed to let more water out, military coup in 2014, did the order remain in force for 3 years? Did the military not stop the practice in 2014? Have we had massively reduced rainfall since 2011? Now we have artificial rainmaking which they say will alleviate/solve the problem?

Or is someone just playing politics?

The order, in force until the coup one year ago, was to keep water levels in all the dams lower than before. To quote Niphon of the TDRI, "political interference (by the Yingluck government) led to the adjustment of lower rule curve (LRV) in water control by the Royal Irrigation Department." You've heard of gun-shy? They were flood-shy; having been burned by their mis-handling of the 2011 floods. There has not been sufficient rain since the coup to refill the dams so that previous policy doesn't matter now; it's not like you can turn on the spigot. No one is playing politics now as the current government has no constituency. Hope this helps.

.

[rametindallas]

Poor guy can't have it that his side is in the wrong. For sure a lot of rain fell and even here they blame politicians but hey you don't want to believe that. Do you really think they would not have mentioned this if the guy did not cause problems. It would have been a lot better if he had not done anything and if they had released the water when they wanted (the professionals) not when the politician wanted it. Therefor it made the flood worse.

Don't you know who interfered with the dams ? to save his province and rice.. I thought it was public knowledge. Just go inform yourself a bit and then you know that 2011 flooding was for a large caused by those actions. So yes I believe it. I lived through the flooding it affected me in a bad way so I did loads of research.

So what is the part you don't believe ?

I don't believe that Robblock of the internet, can understand the complex factors environmental and political of an incident which probably built over 9 months over two governments and across 1000's of km of land rained upon in many countries, yet you have narrowed it down to one politician saving his province and rice!!

And how have you got these caste iron facts of this political doing something, and how did that have the knock on affects that it did? Or was there just a huge amount if rain dumped that year? Given it flooded all over the country? was whatever rumour you are believing even a factor in it? Do you have any proof at all? Do you have any expertise to lean on which says this was the cause? Or are you just speculating because it suits your agenda?

For someone who understands these complex factors your sure seemed dim when you were whining that the Government did not tell you your area was going to flood. For such a professional in these complex matters i would have thought you would have foreseen the flooding.

And yes i whined a lot because of the lack of information there was then, but that was about the water movement. Not about the cause of the flood. As you know governments have satellites and small planes that can monitor the situation and they could have relayed that information to the public, however they did not because that was admitting their failure. Only after it was too late did they start giving out correct information.

But hey in your eyes YL did everything good. (p.s YL was not the politician I am talking about she just mishandled the situation together with Mr Propeller head an other one of your all star team)

The decision by a certain politician for delay the release of water to protect the interests in his province was well commented on at the time; and it was noted other "prominent" land owning families were also keen to make sure the harvest was in first. Regardless of the later effects on many others, they delayed action to suit themselves and made sure they'd cash in on the rice scheme high prices. This wasn't the only factor. But it did have serious consequences for some.

Yingluck repeatedly said there'd be no flooding in certain areas; then changed to some areas didn't mind being flooded to save Bangkok. She obviously only asked her mates.

Rob - he always tries this tactic. Confuse the issue with as many complications as possible, whilst adding sarcastic remarks trying to belittle the other poster. Of course he isn't a Thaksin Shin fan

So asking for someone to back up their claims that all the floods were caused by a politician up country, in a thread title blaming political interference for the floods is trying to confuse the issue? and is a tactic? It seems pretty relevant to the topic.

Ok as long as i know now that internet speculation/gossip should now be taken as factual information.

Government insiders point to conflict of duties between government departments.

The irrigation department’s mandate, for instance, is to plan for droughts and use water for irrigation. This means that it often does not agree with the priorities of other departments and local administrations.

The Agriculture Ministry is controlled by a party led by former premier Banharn Silpa-archa. The old-style veteran politician from Suphanburi province, north-west of Bangkok, is in an alliance with the Puea Thai.

‘Banharn doesn’t want flooding in Suphanburi, which produces three crops a year. If there is flooding they may lose one crop,’ a source told The Straits Times.

‘He is the real minister for agriculture. He may not be in the government, but he operates as if he owns the ministry. But (the Puea Thai) needs him to support its push to amend the Constitution.’

http://www.eco-business.com/news/thai-govt-touts-elaborate-plan-to-prevent-floods/

[eliotness]

For 100s of years, probably thousands, the climate in and around Thailand has been tropical with monsoon rains. It seems posters are trying to blame one side or another for heavy rain or drought problems. I would suggest it's been the failure of governments for many decades. If the old Khmer could cope around Angkor 700 +/- years ago then what have post WW2 governments being doing, apart from allowing Bangkok to hugely enlarge and thus making the flood risk threat an even greater potential problem.

[eliotness]

For 100s of years, probably thousands, the climate in and around Thailand has been tropical with monsoon rains. It seems posters are trying to blame one side or another for heavy rain or drought problems. I would suggest it's been the failure of governments for many decades. If the old Khmer could cope around Angkor 700 +/- years ago then what have post WW2 governments being doing, apart from allowing Bangkok to hugely enlarge and thus making the flood risk threat an even greater potential problem.