Runoff from Nava Nakorn rages through waterworks canal
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Huge volumes of water from Pathum Thani raged into Bangkok via its main waterworks canal yesterday, as pumps worked hard to ensure that the water was pushed out fast enough to protect the capital from flooding.
“The runoff comes from the Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate [in Pathum Thani] and Thammasat University’s Rangsit Campus,” Flood Relief Operations Centre (FROC) director Pol General Pracha Promnok said.
He pointed out that the water was flowing through the canal used by the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MEA) to produce tap water into Samsen Canal. “From there we are pumping the water to Chao Phraya River,” he said.
Some of the water is also being directed to the Makkasan Pond before it is pushed out to the river.
Sanya Sheenimit, chief of the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority’s Department of Drainage and Sewerage, said the situation could be controlled if the runoff did not exceed 90 cubic metres per second.
Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the level of water in the waterworks canal was high because the MEA needed it to produce tap water.
However, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reckoned the big problem of widespread flooding would manifest regardless.
“The runoffs from the North are really huge,” she said.
Some Bangkok roads were reportedly flooded yesterday, as locals living along the waterworks canal were seen monitoring the water level all day, though some were also seen fishing.
At a press conference yesterday, MEA Governor Charoen Passara assured the public that the tap water provided by his agency was safe.
“Its quality is still in line with the drinkingwater standards prescribed by the World Health Organisation,” he said, adding that the higher level of the canal had not yet affected people living along the canal. However, Charoen voiced concern about the barrier between the Rangsitprayoonsak and waterworks canals, saying, “we have to control the water level there”.
