Smith: Bangkok unlikely to escape floods

Timing and coordinating water release from dams was key to avoid Bangkok flooding. Crop irrigation & electricity generation handled by different govt agencies.

Smith Dharmasarojana says Bangkok has a slim chance of escaping the floods if water release from dams is not timed correctly.

Photo above of the Bhumibol Dam in Tak province which receives massive run-off from the North. When the dam releases more water this has an impact downstream villages and provinces.

Photo below of Smith Dharmasarojana. Picture below also of the water cycle. An important part of the water cycle is surface run-off that can cause floods (See Wikipedia for image and article)

Click button to listen to Bangkok's Slim Chance of Surviving to download

On the RECORD: Smith faults water management by  KING-OUA LAOHONG

Smith Dharmasarojana, former director-general of the Meteorological Department and present chairman of the National Disaster Warning Council Foundation ... blames current catastrophic flooding in the country on poor water management.

Question: Does the widespread flooding send any unusual signal? 

Answer: This incident does not result from a natural disaster. Our problem is that we do not know how to manage water. We did not assess from the beginning of the rainy season whether there would be lots of rain and how much water should have been held in the dams.

Every party kept water in large dams. The Irrigation Department and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) were afraid they would run out of water in the dry season. They made the wrong guess.

If rains continue throughout the middle and the end of the rainy season, the dams cannot hold all the water and now all large dams are full. 

The problem is that all the full dams are discharging water simultaneously. The Central Plains below the dams has already suffered heavy rains. Consequently, there is a massive amount of water. The simultaneous discharges from the dams have therefore caused flooding in many areas from Nakhon Sawan to Ayutthaya.

Question: What should the immediate solution be now?

Answer: We should stop discharges from the three major dams — Bhumibol, Sirikit and Pasak Jolasid — right now because it is not raining above them. If the massive discharges continue and compound flooding in the Central Plains, floods will happen everywhere and cause damage worth hundreds of billions of baht
We must also drain water from the big rivers, namely the Tha Chin, Chao Phraya and Bang Pakong into the sea as soon as possible to protect Bangkok. Big pumps must be installed at their estuaries. Accelerating boats in the middle of the wide Chao Phraya River is a waste because they propel only the water on the surface.

Question: Does this show there is no teamwork among agencies concerned? 

Answer: Without coordination among the Meteorological Department, the Irrigation Department and the Egat, we cannot determine the appropriate amount of water to be reserved. This eventually leads to flooding. Actually, discharges from the big dams can be managed. If water is not discharged from the three dams simultaneously, Bangkok, its outskirts, Ayutthaya and many other provinces will not be flooded.

Question: Will Bangkok be flooded?

Answer: It will be to a certain extent. Some people believe the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration can divert floodwater from the capital but I do not believe in the BMA. It has not supervised floodwalls in the outskirts. Floodwalls in Pathum Thani have just collapsed. The BMA does not take care of them. In fact, the BMA should take action there because water from Pathum Thani will reach Bangkok

I wonder if floodwalls around Bangkok are strong enough because there are soil dykes, concrete dykes and sandbag dykes, especially those in the suburbs that local administrative organisations have built and maintained.

They were built by contractors, not by knowledgeable experts, and they may not be strong enough.

I think Bangkok has a slim chance of surviving.

(Source: Bangkok Post, On the RECORD, Smith faults water management, 13/10/2011, KING-OUA LAOHONG, link)

Water Management Vocabulary

chance - probability (possibility, likelihood) that some event (such as flooding) might happen
slim chance - not likely (event will probably not happen) 

Bangkok has a slim chance of surviving

flood - a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water, an overflow of large amounts of water that puts normally dry land under water (submerges land) (See Wikipedia)

water management - planning the use of water resources, fairly allocating water to competing demands for water; for agriculture this means storing water behind dams for use during the dry season when there are droughts and very little water, as this article points out if there is more than the expected amount of rain and water is not released in time from dams, disastrous flooding can result (See Wikipedia and also see the Wikipedia Water Portal)

dam - a large barrier that stops the flow of water along a river, storing the water for different uses such as generating electricity (hydroelectricity), drinking water for far-away cities and for irrigation of crops during the dry season when there is no rain (See Wikipedia)

Bhumibol Dam - a concrete dam on the Ping River, a tributary of the Chao Phraya River, began operation in the 1970s "located about 480 km (298 mi) north of Bangkok and was built for the purposes of water storage, hydroelectric power production, flood control, fisheries and the management of saltwater intrusion downstream with its dry-season releases" (See Wikipedia)

dam releases water - when water allowed to leave the dam and travel down the river

timing - judging and deciding on the right moment in an activity to do something (example: The farmer's timing was perfect, he harvested his rice crop a month before the floods.)
water release from dams - allowing water to leave from dams and travel down the rivers

timing water release from dams - when all the dams work together to release water at times that avoid large amounts of river in the river and flooding

surface run-off -  "the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle" (See Wikipedia)

run-off - same as "surface run-off"
massive run-off  

water cycle - the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth, from rain to rivers to the ocean, evaporation to clouds and then rain again, also called the "hydrologic cycle" (See Wikipedia)

blames - says or thinks that someone or something did something wrong or is responsible for something bad happening ตำหนิ
blames flooding on poor water management

X blames Y - X says the bad situation was caused by the actions of Y
X faults Y - same as "blame"

X is to blame - X is the one who caused the bad situation
X is at fault - same as "blame"

catastrophic - a terrible disaster, extremely damaging เหตุร้ายกาจม ความหายนะม ให้ผลหายนะอย่างใหญ่หลวง
current - of the present time ปัจจุบัน

current catastrophic flooding - floods casuing great damage that are happening right now

widespread - happening or existing in many places, or affecting many people อย่างแพร่หลาย
widespread flooding - flooding in many places

incident - an unpleasant event

disaster - something very bad that happens and causes a lot of damage ความหายนะ ภัยพิบัติ
natural - found in nature (not made in a factory by humans) ตามธรรมชาติ

natural disaster - a very bad event caused by nature, that causes a lot of damage and harm: earthquake, tsunami, storm, floods, etc. (See Wikipedia)

assess - to carefully consider a situation, person, or problem in order to make a judgment ประเมิณสถานการณ์

party - one of the people or groups of people involved in an official argument, arrangement or similar situation คู่กรณี

simultaneous (adjective) - happening at the same time ในเวลาเดียวกัน,ที่พร้อมกัน
simultaneously (adverb)

discharge (verb, noun) - water or fluid leaving a place (example: water discharged from the dam, milkish white discharge from a wound)

all the full dams are discharging water simultaneously

simultaneous discharges from the dams

X. Consequently, Y. - event X happened and then, as a result, event Y happened

massive - very large in size, amount or numberใหญ่โต
massive amount of water - very large amount of water

compound - add to a problem, making a problem become a bigger problem

surface - on the top or outside of something (example: boats travel on the surface of the water and submarines travel under the surface of the water)
estuary - the wide part of a river where it joins the sea

accelerate -  to increase speed, go faster and faster เร่งความเร็ว, เพิ่มความเร็ว
accelerating boats - boats going faster and faster

propel - push in one direction (cause or make something move in a certain direction) 
propel only the water on the surface - push and move only the water on the top or surface of the river

teamwork - when a group of people work together closely to achieve some goal
concerned - related to, connected to, relevant (example: only issues concerned with flooding will be discussed at the meeting)

no teamwork among agencies concerned - the government agencies that are related to the problem did not work together

coordination - the act of making all the people involved in a plan or activity work together in an organised way การประสานกัน

determine - find out or decide something ตัดสินใจ ชี้ขาด กำหนด
reserved -
determine the appropriate amount of water to be reserved

eventually - at the end of a period of time or at the end of a process ในที่สุด
eventually leads to flooding

outskirts - the areas of a town or city that are furthest away from the centre, the areas at the edge of a city ชานเมือง

to a certain extent - partly true (not 100% true)
extent - size ขนาด

capital - the center for government in a country เมืองหลวง

divert - make travel in a different direction, along a different route เปลี่ยนเส้นทาง
divert floodwater - make floodwater go in a different direction or route (from where it is going)

divert floodwater from the capital - make floodwater go away from the capital

believe in - trust, accept what someone says as true

I do not believe in the BMA - does not believe what the BMA says

supervised - managed; overseen; watched over to ensure that things are done correctly อยู่ในการควบคุมดูแล
supervised floodwalls in the outskirts - managed the building of floodwalls in places on the outside of Bangkok

collapsed - fell down suddenly ล้ม ทิ้งตัวลง
floodwalls collapsed - walls stopping flood water from entering an area fell down

dykes -  a wall to prevent high water from entering an area, also "dike" เขื่อนกั้นน้ำ (example: The Netherlands is famous for its dykes and flood control) (See Wikipedia)

flood control in the Netherlands - (See Wikipedia)

soil dykes -
concrete dykes
sandbag dykes

suburbs - areas on the edge of a large town or city where people who work in the town or city often live ชานเมือง

local administrative organisations - the local government of towns, small districts and neighborhoods in cities

maintained - repair regularly and keep something in good condition (so it does not break) (example: the floodwalls were maintained during periods when there were no floods)

contractors - companies that do building and construction work for another company or here the government บริษัทผู้รับเหมา