KANCHANABURI: Vajiralongkorn dam in Thong Pha Phum district was receiving 100 million cubic metres of water a day and discharging 53 million cu/m, and was at 93% of its manageable capacity on Monday.
About 100 nearby houses had been flooded by the rising level of water in the reservoir.
Waiwit Saengpanit, director of the dam, said on Monday the dam was holding back 8.2 billion cu/m of water. The discharge rate was being increased to prepare for more rain expected into next month.
From this Monday to next Monday, the discharge rate was set at 53 million cu/m daily, including 10 million cu/m released down the spillway, he said.
The rising level of reserved water at the dam resulted from persistent rain in Thong Pha Phum and Sangkhla Buri districts over the past three months. The reservoir level was rising 10-20 centimetres a day.
About 100 houses in Sangkhla Buri, upstream from the hydropower dam, were flooded, but the residents did not complain because they were among 300 built on flood-prone land in disregard of the advice of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.
Flooded houses upstream from Vajiralongkorn dam, near the wooden Saphan Mon Bridge, in Sangkhla Buri district of Kanchanaburi. (Photo by Piyarach Chongcharoen)