Difficulty to divert water in eastern Bangkok
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The Royal Irrigation Department's Hydrology and Water Management Office on Wednesday outlined the difficulty to drain run-off via eastern Bangkok.
Even though the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has the drainage capacity for 10 million cubic meters per day, it is operating under the capacity due to the closure of two watergates at Nong Chok Canal and Prawet Burirom Canal.
The two watergates are under the jurisdiction of the RID. The two canals are Bangkok’s eastern floodways to reroute run-off from the North to drain into the sea via Bang Pakong River.
In its rebuttal, the RID said the two watergates could not be opened because the water level in Bang Pakong River is presently higher than the two canals.
If the watergates are lifted, water would flow back into the capital, exacerbating the inundation. What the RID can do under the circumstances is to pump the water from the Bangkok side across the two watergates and into Bang Pakong River.
The Nation
