Seven provinces in Chao Phraya river basin warned of rising water level as dams are discharging water

[rooster59]

Seven provinces in Chao Phraya river basin warned of rising water level as dams are discharging water

 

Irrigation officials yesterday warned residents, temples and businesses by the banks of the Chao Phraya river in seven provinces to monitor the the water level closely and get ready for evacuation as they will be discharging more water from dams to make rooms for storing water during the coming rainy season.

 

The warning by the Chai Nat Irrigation Office 12 was sent to governors of seven provinces located on the Chao Phraya river basin. They are Chai Nat, Uthai Thani, Singburi, Ang Thong, Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya and Lopburi.

 

The office instructed that the agencies concerned and residents who live along Chao Phraya river bank be prepared for the water situation and closely monitor the water level.

 

It said that it was necessary to discharge water from the Chao Phraya Dam to 700 cubic metres per second to lower the water volume so the dam could have more space to receive more water as heavy rain was forecast in the lower Northern region and upper Central region this weekend.

The heavy rain would eventually increase the water level of Chao Phraya river.

 

Meanwhile heavy rains in several parts of the country has raised the water levels in many rivers.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/seven-provinces-chao-phraya-river-basin-warned-rising-water-level-dams-discharging-water/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-05-28

[kannot]

What do they mean "coming"..................has no one told them?? ITS ALREADY HERE......early and with a vengeance.

Im suspecting this year could beat the last flood  hands  down..................which is going to make the junta  look  good

[lovelomsak]

They have a few months to release this water but they do right after a flood. Brain dead comes to mind for me.Why do they not wait a week or a month to do this when the water levels are down in the rivers and the ground is not water saturated.? Or do they now expect the rain to not stop coming at the rate it has been coming. I am beginning to believe they do not think at all just react.

[lopburi3]

700 CMS is only about one third of what was flowing during floods of 2011 - should not be a major problem at all - just unusual to require this much flow at this time of the year.  But much better to get it out than hold like they tried in 2011 - that does not work out well when the rains continue to fall.  

[robblok]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

700 CMS is only about one third of what was flowing during floods of 2011 - should not be a major problem at all - just unusual to require this much flow at this time of the year.  But much better to get it out than hold like they tried in 2011 - that does not work out well when the rains continue to fall.  

Correct in 2011 it was totally mismanaged because certain politicians wanted to save a rice harvest.. it mad the flooding so much worse. Its great that they now let out water already so they don't have to do it later. Not sure this is the right time but sometimes it better to be safe then sorry.

 

As to why not wait a week or a month.. if the dams fill up too much then they will have to release far more than the 700cms they do now. If you could garantee them that the dams wont be at danger levels before that time I am sure they would not discharge it now. But unfortunately you cannot and neither can they.. so they do it in a safe way.  (last part aimed at lovelomsak)

[chainarong]

The former Government PTP party's flood mitigation program is certainly working well , as usual ......................................

[robblok]

15 minutes ago, chainarong said:

The former Government PTP party's flood mitigation program is certainly working well , as usual ......................................

Supposedly they put a lot of money in it. I wonder what was actually done. They had around 2 1/2 year to do something.. guess nothing was done.. shows how much they cared about the people. 

 

Then the junta in power.. since 2014... seems they did not do much either.. 3 years in power now.

 

But what i read is that it in BKK has a lot to do with clogged drains.. now that is a hard problem to fix. If you got vendors dumping grease and other people constantly dumping trash everywhere drains get clogged. Then you got the BMA that probably does not allocate enough money to clearing of those drains (or the people are too lazy to do it)) and you got this problem again. 

 

Incompetence all around. 

[lovelomsak]

1 hour ago, robblok said:

Correct in 2011 it was totally mismanaged because certain politicians wanted to save a rice harvest.. it mad the flooding so much worse. Its great that they now let out water already so they don't have to do it later. Not sure this is the right time but sometimes it better to be safe then sorry.

 

As to why not wait a week or a month.. if the dams fill up too much then they will have to release far more than the 700cms they do now. If you could garantee them that the dams wont be at danger levels before that time I am sure they would not discharge it now. But unfortunately you cannot and neither can they.. so they do it in a safe way.  (last part aimed at lovelomsak)

Thanks for the recognition.

 Do you honestly feel there is a chance that the dams will fill to the level they will need to release in the near or not to distance future? My post was to point out there is still lots of time for the dams to fill and release could be done when rain and flooding have receded.I am quite sure it will take a few weeks minimum to fill even at this rate of rain. So why commit when there is still time. If the dams can go from near empty to full in a matter of a week or two then that is really poor planning  in a country that has monsoons. I would say impossible but what do I know.

 

[robblok]

Just now, lovelomsak said:

Thanks for the recognition.

 Do you honestly feel there is a chance that the dams will fill to the level they will need to release in the near or not to distance future? My post was to point out there is still lots of time for the dams to fill and release could be done when rain and flooding have receded.I am quite sure it will take a few weeks minimum to fill even at this rate of rain. So why commit when there is still time. If the dams can go from near empty to full in a matter of a week or two then that is really poor planning  in a country that has monsoons. I would say impossible but what do I know.

 

I feel that way.. because the weather being as it is you can't predict the future. I understand what you are saying and it seems to be totally reasonable to think this way. However now they can release small amounts of water (as by lopburi3 his post its just 1/3 of the amount at 2011).

 

Should they wait and it fails they will have to release much more and cause real flooding. You are assuming a window of opportunity to dump the water when the river is lower. They are just not sure that such a window will come before its too late. Its a better safe then sorry thing. I wish i had the link to the dams here. Then you could see how full they are i really dont think that they would do this if they thought there was an other way. You might think that all Thai officials are crazy or dumb but I like to think that they do know what they are doing. They learned from 2011 what can happen if you release too late.

 

I was flooded in 2011.. its something I hope i never have to experience again. 

[lujanit]

Unfortunately knowing when to release water from a dam is not uniquely a Thai problem.  In 2011 Queensland held on to too much water in the Wivenhoe Dam until they had to release a huge amount of water in one event.  The result was major flooding in the Brisbane River catchment.

 

The reasons in Thailand are far more complex where interested parties have a huge amount of say (brown envelopes anyone?).  Incompetence by Thai public servants cannot be ruled out either.

[lovelomsak]

Just now, robblok said:

I feel that way.. because the weather being as it is you can't predict the future. I understand what you are saying and it seems to be totally reasonable to think this way. However now they can release small amounts of water (as by lopburi3 his post its just 1/3 of the amount at 2011).

 

Should they wait and it fails they will have to release much more and cause real flooding. You are assuming a window of opportunity to dump the water when the river is lower. They are just not sure that such a window will come before its too late. Its a better safe then sorry thing. I wish i had the link to the dams here. Then you could see how full they are i really dont think that they would do this if they thought there was an other way. You might think that all Thai officials are crazy or dumb but I like to think that they do know what they are doing. They learned from 2011 what can happen if you release too late.

 

I was flooded in 2011.. its something I hope i never have to experience again. 

You only got flooded once. For me it has been 3 times all since 2011 and very one was because of releasing too much water at one time. I am watching the news right now there is flooding again today in Bangkok do you really think this is an opportune time. 

 I am not saying wait till the river drops but that would be a good thing if they could . But I am saying if there is flooding at present time why make it stronger.They could at least wait till flooding has stopped. You do not start a camp fire in the middle of a forest fire type of .logic.

 The beauty of thinking what can or should be done is a freedom,that I greatly enjoy. And I think comparing 2011 to this is totally wrong. To release now makes for greater flooding at the moment for sure. While to wait simple offers the opportunity for controlled release, which may or may not creat flooding.I definitely prefer the second option.

[robblok]

18 minutes ago, lovelomsak said:

You only got flooded once. For me it has been 3 times all since 2011 and very one was because of releasing too much water at one time. I am watching the news right now there is flooding again today in Bangkok do you really think this is an opportune time. 

 I am not saying wait till the river drops but that would be a good thing if they could . But I am saying if there is flooding at present time why make it stronger.They could at least wait till flooding has stopped. You do not start a camp fire in the middle of a forest fire type of .logic.

 The beauty of thinking what can or should be done is a freedom,that I greatly enjoy. And I think comparing 2011 to this is totally wrong. To release now makes for greater flooding at the moment for sure. While to wait simple offers the opportunity for controlled release, which may or may not creat flooding.I definitely prefer the second option.

I found a website with water levels of the dams.. there you can see how fast the dam was filled in just a short time.. one more of these increases and they are forced to release all the water. So they are doing a good job this time. The increase happened in just a few days.. so its really possible to go too high if they don't release more water.

 

That is why i wanted to see the website so i could make a post based on facts. 

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_bigcm.html

 

 

Where are you that you have been flooded.. the water released here wont reach bangkok for a while.. just look at the map.

Edited May 28, 2017 by robblok

[lovelomsak]

Just now, robblok said:

I found a website with water levels of the dams.. there you can see how fast the dam was filled in just a short time.. one more of these increases and they are forced to release all the water. So they are doing a good job this time. The increase happened in just a few days.. so its really possible to go too high if they don't release more water.

 

That is why i wanted to see the website so i could make a post based on facts. 

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_bigcm.html

 

Ok  thanks for the chart. What is it saying I am not quite sure.  Looks to me like it is 15% full but rose quickly.It looks like 10% in  2 months to me. So have a few months to go at this rate before it would be a problem right. To me this chart shows we have time for a release in the future.Thanks for giving us the facts.

[robblok]

5 minutes ago, lovelomsak said:

Ok  thanks for the chart. What is it saying I am not quite sure.  Looks to me like it is 15% full but rose quickly.It looks like 10% in  2 months to me. So have a few months to go at this rate before it would be a problem right. To me this chart shows we have time for a release in the future.Thanks for giving us the facts.

I am sorry but if you go to the site you will see its not percents.. the top line is max levels and lower line is current. Now you can see the rise happend in just a few DAYS not months.. so one more of those occurrences and there would be no more controlled release. on the site you have more tools.. just let your browser translate it to English (This one could not be translated) 

 

You are also mistaken by looking at it in months.. as the rain-season jus started and the rise happened in days. Good thing though is that many of the dams are not full. But this is just the start. I do hope the keep on releasing water when needed to avoid an other 2011. The full site gives links to all the dams. 

 

One strange thing though.. they dom't seem to note this dam the same as others and when you look at the map you will see no big reservoir behind it. So that might be why it fills up so fast and has to release (just google the name and look at the site link below the graph)

Edited May 28, 2017 by robblok

[mfd101]

The 2 big dams - Bhumipol & Sirikit in the North - are currently at 42% & 49% of capacity, according to the relevant website. Many smaller dams are at below 20% capacity.

[robblok]

36 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

The 2 big dams - Bhumipol & Sirikit in the North - are currently at 42% & 49% of capacity, according to the relevant website. Many smaller dams are at below 20% capacity.

Correct,, but this one seems to be having troubles. Good that those  big dams are still not that full. Seems this one is though.. I will keep my eye on that website.