Rice fields to absorb run-off
The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) now plans to divert the northern run-off into three major rice-growing areas in Ayutthaya that will act as water-retention areas after the harvest.
The aim is to absorb the high volume of water being drained into the sea through the Chao Phraya River.
The floods in several northern and central provinces have yet to ease, while more torrential rain is forecast to fall from now until the middle of next week.
The three areas are the 50,000-rai Pa Mok-Phak Hai field, the 150,000-rai Phak Hai field and the 130,810-rai Bang Ban field, said Thongplew Kongjun, deputy directorgeneral of the RID.
Three major fields — Thale Luang in Sukhothai, Bang Rakam in Phitsanulok and Bung Boraphet in Nakhon Sawan — into where the northern run-off had previously been diverted were already full, said Mr Thongplew.
More rice-growing areas will be converted into run-off retention zones as soon as local administrative officials notify when the rice harvest there ends, he said.
It is crucial to speed up the draining of the northern run-off into the Gulf of Thailand before a period of high tides as this can slow down and even obstruct the drainage, he said.
In another development, Agriculture Minister Gen Chatchai Sarikulya yesterday instructed the RID to implement five urgent measures to cope with the northern run-off and the flood situations in several provinces.
He gave the order at the end of a twohour meeting with the RID and Ayutthaya administrative officials on the flood situation. The meeting was held after he surveyed the area by helicopter.
The minister wants the northern run-off to be diverted before it reaches the Chao Phraya dam in Chai Nat province, and to limit the rate of excess water being released from the dam to 2,000 cubic metres per second at most.
He also wants officials to find more areas where the excess water could be diverted after it is discharged from the dam as the volume currently drained into the Chao Phraya River is too high.
The provinces affected in the North and those along the Chao Phraya River are also required to find more water-retention areas, he said.
As the overall flood situation in eight provinces in the North and six more in the Central Plains remained critical yesterday, the Meteorological Department forecast that a monsoon trough will form today until Wednesday across the lower part of the Central Plains and bring a higher volume of run-off in Nakhon Sawan, Sing Buri, Ayutthaya, Suphan Buri and Nakhon Sawan provinces.
In related news, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Gen Surasak Karnjanarat said the ministry planned to merge the Department of Water Resources and Department of Groundwater Resources into a new department in a bid to improve water management efficiency.