Water in major dams remains at normal level: Irrigation Dept

 

  

BANGKOK, 5 October 2016 (NNT) - Water in major dams throughout the country currently remains at normal level and would cause no need for alarm for the time being. 

Deputy Irrigation Department director general Somkiat Prachamwong said he had inspected the management of water on the western side of Chao Phraya River and the controled release of water from the river to Mahasawat, Pasicharoen and Sanamchai canals and finally to the Gulf of Thailand in Samut Sakhorn province. 

He said the releasing of the excessive water from both sides of Chao Phraya River via natural and irrigational canals to the Gulf had not been done at full capacity as yet, primarily due to obstacles in certain canals along the way. 

However, he said, the department has excavated those clogged canals to make them more capable of draining out the water from the river. For that reason, the department has cooperated with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration in bid to keep the excessive water flowing down to the Gulf and contain flooding in and around the capital city, he said. 

He added that 1,644 cubic meters of water is being released per second from Chao Phrya dam which has full capacity of 2,800 cubic meters per second.

 

-- nnt 2016-10-05

OK I give up ! What are normal levels ?

What's the time frame from "no need for alarm" till "Oops, we did it again"?

54 minutes ago, HoboKay said:

What's the time frame from "no need for alarm" till "Oops, we did it again"?

The time it takes the elevator from the office of one department-spokesperson to the next...

3 minutes ago, DM07 said:

The time it takes the elevator from the office of one department-spokesperson to the next...

 

The immediate question would be are these fellows housed in the same building physically?

 

Else it'd take a while with the inundation. 

Just now, HoboKay said:

 

The immediate question would be are these fellows housed in the same building physically?

 

Else it'd take a while with the inundation. 

...wait for it....

4 hours ago, tracker1 said:

OK I give up ! What are normal levels ?

Its up to interpretation. I become skeptical when government officials try to placate us. They always seem to be hiding something. 

Normal levels are shown here along with maximum, current, usable and every other level you might want to know:

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_dam_1.php?lang=en

 

Click on the reservoir name you want to understand better in relationship to previous years.

5 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

Normal levels are shown here along with maximum, current, usable and every other level you might want to know:

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_dam_1.php?lang=en

 

Click on the reservoir name you want to understand better in relationship to previous years.

 

Funny how the summary is not updated since 2013, but apart from that the majority of dams are actually only full to the lower end of the average.

3 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

 

Funny how the summary is not updated since 2013, but apart from that the majority of dams are actually only full to the lower end of the average.

It's pretty difficult to parse the figures, but if I understand them then I'm quite surprised at how many of the reservoirs are at 35-40% capacity. There are only a few at over 90%, but most seem to be around 50%. That makes me wonder if we're going to get warning from the Irrigation Department, as we do in most years, that there is not enough water stored to support a second crop.

8 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

 

Funny how the summary is not updated since 2013, but apart from that the majority of dams are actually only full to the lower end of the average.

 

The summary sheet is updated daily, I've been watching the water levels in Mau Ngat rise to its current 52%.

 

Also, if you click on the dam a second sheet appears which shows the comparison between this year and previous years.

 

There's a fine balance to be achieved with reservoirs, not enough water and it's drought time, too much and it can't be stored hence flooding, all of that accounts for the more than 80% and less than 20% being coded red in colour. Also interesting to  understand is the differences between usable and total capacity.

Big difference between current current (46%)and usable (17%) at Bhumipol.  2nd largest in Thailand.  

5 hours ago, chiang mai said:

 

The summary sheet is updated daily, I've been watching the water levels in Mau Ngat rise to its current 52%.

 

Also, if you click on the dam a second sheet appears which shows the comparison between this year and previous years.

 

There's a fine balance to be achieved with reservoirs, not enough water and it's drought time, too much and it can't be stored hence flooding, all of that accounts for the more than 80% and less than 20% being coded red in colour. Also interesting to  understand is the differences between usable and total capacity.

 

The summary for each region has not been updated since 2013: http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_lgraph_region3.php?region=West

 

The data in the main sheet is up to date however.

Just now, ExpatOilWorker said:

 

The summary for each region has not been updated since 2013: http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_lgraph_region3.php?region=West

 

The data in the main sheet is up to date however.

 

Ah, OK, understood now - er, dunno why!

4 hours ago, GiantFan said:

Big difference between current current (46%)and usable (17%) at Bhumipol.  2nd largest in Thailand.  

 

Because of its size it's a large flat area that fills up slowly, a large base area means lots of unusable water albeit loads of useable water once it fills up. Contrast that with say Mae Ngud which is a V shaped reservoir where there is very little unusable water, less than 10%.