The 350-billion-baht water management scheme is unlikely to boost flood prevention capabilities much because each project module has not been designed to deal with extreme weather, a Senate panel says.
Thanawat Jarupongsakul, spokesman of the Senate sub-committee examining the budget for the scheme, said project designs need to be reviewed to take climate change into account.
Mr Thanawat said the government is embarking on the most expensive project in the country’s history to deal with flood problems, but a study has revealed the scheme will only limit flood damage slightly.
He said the study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency says the country can still expect about 12 billion cubic metres of floodwater in a typical year even after all 10 modules under the 350-billion-baht water management scheme are in operation.
This means flood areas would still be inundated for at least 94 days each year.
“It means that we will not be safe from floods despite the modules designed by the government. The challenge is how to adjust them to produce better results,” he said.
Mr Thanawat said the water-management scheme was chiefly designed to cope with massive water run-off from the North caused by seasonal storms.
These measures cannot respond to extreme weather caused by climate change. The flood in 2011 was not the biggest flood in the country’s history, but it was the biggest in 70 years.
If a bigger flood than 2011 occurs, all flood-prevention measures would collapse and the impact and economic loss would be much greater.
Mr Thanawat predicted that the proposed floodway west of the Chao Phraya River was unlikely to provide the answer to flood problems in the Central Plains since floodwater usually came from the East.
Construction of the western floodway involves digging a canal from Khanu Woralakburi in Kamphaeng Phet province to the Mae Klong River in Kanchanaburi.
The project met opposition from local villagers during public hearings because they were concerned about environmental impacts.
Hansa Vathananukij, a lecturer at Kasetsart University’s faculty of engineering, said all the projects under the scheme need to be reviewed if the government wants to get the best results from the money it is spending.
He said any flood prevention infrastructure should be developed in conjunction with the country’s irrigation system to ensure more efficient control of water volume.