Obstacles may foil govt flood schemes: experts

“Thailand usually faces two storms per year, but there were five last year, resulting in serious flooding. What if the number is increasing and the storm direction is changed to hit Thailand more directly?” said Thongchai Roachanakanan, senior architect of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning. “This is what we call dynamic climate change. The current plan to prevent floods does not take this into account. And that is what we’re concerned about the most.”
The world today is facing dynamic climate change, which means the problem is getting worse, and any project to prevent floods should not be planned with old information or statistics. The government cannot rely on old data when planning to prevent flood disasters, he said.
Besides the inappropriately designed flood plan, the government’s implementation of the projects is in doubt. The floodways both to the east and west of the Chao Phraya River that the government has recently announced would run through more than 100 residential projects. This is the result of urban planning without direction in the past, he said.
Some areas suitable for water catchment, called monkey cheeks, belong to politicians. This measure could turn into a political issue and may be an obstacle to making floodways possible.
Constructing dykes around industrial estates is also not a sustainable way to prevent floods, Thongchai said.
The government’s flood plan focuses on big projects with huge budgets, but in fact, small-scale projects with lower investment may be more effective.
“The government actually should think more and spend less on the flood-prevention facilities,” he said.
Secondary floodways, which are smaller, are the preferred way to go. They should also be connected with the catchment areas to increase their efficiency, he said.
Thanawat Jarupongsakul, director of the Unit for Disaster and Land Information Studies at Chulalongkorn University, said the government’s flood plan was based on the 17 billion cubic metres of water that inundated the country last year. This may be a problem if water in the future exceeds this quantity. The government actually should design the facilities to cope with a more serious flood situation.
The flood measures should take urban planning into account. Comments from all parties such as people in the flood-holding areas should also be considered.
“It is unbelievable that the government has devised the facilities to prevent floods like this. It has just thought about how the water volume last year can be apportioned to catchment areas. Besides, more than 90 per cent of the plans announced recently have focused on construction. Actually, there is a natural way to help solve the problem,” he said.
Existing rivers should be used as floodways. Flanks of 1 kilometre from the rivers should be designated for draining water during the rainy season. This is a natural way that does not need big expenditures, but is quite effective, he said.
Seree Supharatid, director of the Centre on Climate Change and Disaster at Rangsit University, said the floodways that the government had announced might not be enough to cope with deluges in the future. The government should control the flow of water from the Yom River along with making floodways and catchment zones.
“Unlike the Ping, Wang and Nan rivers, the Yom does not have any control structure. The government should make a decision on how to manage water from this river,” he said.
Together with building the facilities, the government should communicate the risk from these facilities to people to reduce their resistance, |he said.