Walls will not prevent future floods

The floodwalls as proposed around all the industrial estates in Rangsit/Ayutthaya would give a view of the countryside no man has ever seen. With the walls as high as 5 to 8.5 metres (two- to four-storey buildings) spreading in total the length of 141 kilometres (two-thirds of the distance from Bangkok to Pattaya), visitors to Ayutthaya would see only walls jutting out like sore thumbs, all over that previously beautiful countryside. The Great Wall of China is a sight to behold, but these “dykes” would be a monument to the stupidity of mankind.

In the same issue, another caption, “Dams, drainage keys to flood prevention” (interview with water expert Petipong Pungbun Na Ayudhya), unintentionally warns those estates why the walls won’t work. Water can be more dangerous than fire if one tries to prevent its natural flow at a local level.

These estates had better admit that they have picked the wrong locations for factories. They are blocking the flow of northern water and their survival is dependent on the efficiency and predictability of the Irrigation Department in managing water in the country’s dams. It is in that area that they need to coerce the government into taking an immediate interest in protecting them, and not their individual self-centred floodwalls.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok