Ayutthaya land to be flooded in pilot project : 30,000 rai of farmland to be submerged

Ayutthaya land to be flooded in pilot project : 30,000 rai of farmland to be submerged.

Piyaporn Wongruang

Ayutthaya will be the centre of a pilot flood retention project that will purposely flood farmers' land in the province as part of measures aimed at easing inundation in the flood-persistent Central Plains, Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Rungruang Isarankura na Ayudhya said yesterday.

A sub-panel working on improvements of irrigation and farming practices has backed plans to test the flood retention project to explore whether it can be used as part of wider solutions to help ease inundation in the flood-persistent Central Plains.

Chaired by the deputy minister, the sub-panel selected Ayutthaya as a guinea pig for the pilot project. Mr Rungruang said officials were asked to test if the initiative was feasible and whether it could be expanded to other areas.

''This is something new to our country,'' he said.

''We are going to put water into somebody's property, not discharging it under traditional practice. So it's not easy. That's the reason why we should try the idea in a small area first rather than introducing it in large sway all at the same time.''

Flood retention has been widely accepted as a crucial measure to help ease flooding in the Central Plains as the region has few locations suitable for large reservoirs to help store rain water. But it does have vast fields along the main rivers that have been used to help absorb flood waters in the past.

However, most of the land has been occupied and used for intensive farming, and land owners tend to oppose flood diversions onto their fields.

During last year's floods, the Irrigation Department met with fierce resistance to plans to divert overflow from the Chao Phraya river into farmer fields. The river eventually burst its banks, flooding fields down to Pathum Thani and placed Bangkok at risk of heavy flooding.

Following last year's problems, the department asked water management experts to work on anti-flood measures that include a flood retention scheme.

The technical team's initial study said flood retention areas across up to three million rai of land could help store at least two billion cubic metres of water.

Mr Rungruang conceded the initiative would be difficult to put into practice since it contradicted conventional thought that flood waters should be moved out of areas as quickly as possible.

But new, purpose-set flood retention areas are a necessity in light of natural retention ponds along the region's major rivers having deteriorated massively.

Mr Rungruang said he wanted the team to explore the pilot project first and to come up with the best implementation procedures including a fair system of compensation for private land owners.

Assoc Prof Chukiat Sapphaisal, a team member, said a 50-sq-km field, or about 30,000 rai, in Ayutthaya has been designated for the pilot project. The area will be equipped with full water management infrastructure including sluice gates and canals to help control the volume of water going in and out.

Overflow from the Chao Phraya river would be diverted and temporarily kept in fields until water management officials can better control the water in the river.

Once the National Water Resources Committee approves the project, the team will hold talks with affected land owners, he said. The approval may come early next month.

''I can't say yet whether this will work or not. We have to try first, but more importantly, we have to make people understand why it's necessary,'' he said.

Bangkok Post
Sunday January 14, 2007