Water banks set to ease city flooding

City Hall is speeding up its ambitious plans to prevent chronic flooding by building underground “water banks” and water retention areas.

The construction of five water banks, with the capacity to hold up to 27,030 cubic metres (c um) of water, will be finished this year, Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang promised yesterday.

The so-called water banks are large artesian wells to store water and are the brainchild of Pol Gen Governor Aswin, who was inspired by a similar project in Japan.

Bangkok is often flooded by torrential rain and water run-off from the North as well as high tide affecting local tributaries.

But while higher levels of seawater which enter the Chao Phraya River can be reduced by diverting it into riverside fields located north of the capital, city officials find it difficult to control rainwater.

The city’s ageing sewers are too small to drain the water, while natural aquifers that once helped deal with floods have been replaced by non-permeable concrete surfaces used for roads and pavements.

“Three water banks will be completed before the rainy season,” Pol Gen Aswin pledged, referring to three locations located near Bangkok’s most flood-prone areas.

They are Soi Sutthiphon 2 off Asok-Din Daeng Road, Lak Si Circle in Bang Khen district and Setthakit housing estate in Bang Khae district in the west part of the city.

Another two water banks should be ready by the end of the year. They will be built under two flyovers — one near Ratchadaphisek and Vibhavadi Rangsit roads and the other in the vicinity of Srinakarin and Krunthep Kritha roads.

Plans are underway to hire contractors, Pol Gen Aswin said.

In a related development, Bangkok is also going ahead with the Kaem Ling (monkey cheek) water retention project by creating five large ponds to help contain up to 141,100 cu m of rainwater, added Pol Gen Aswin.

The project is valued at 273.6 million baht.

Four of them — Prachaniwet 1 pond on Thetsaban Songkhro Road, Rang Khe pond on Bang Khunthian-Chai Thale Road, Nak Wiwat pond on Lat Phrao 71 Road and Friendship housing estate pond in Lat Phrao area — will be ready for use sometime this year.

Work on the other — Benchakitti pond on Ratchadaphisek Road — is expected to be finished by February 2019.

PORNPROM SATRABHAYA A passenger of a motorcycle taxi lifts her feet to escape the flood water on Ngam Wongwan 18 Road in Nonthaburi following a heavy downpour yesterday. Many parts of Bangkok and neighbouring provinces were flooded causing heavy traffic jams on major...