KWA Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 29 minutes ago, Painter said: And just what is a full rainmaking operation? The Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation can probably tell you better than anyone on here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Rainmaking_Project 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcharliemofo Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 If this is true and considering where it's come from it may not be but if it's true you really do just have to shake your head at the sheer level of stupidity of some people. https://thepattayanews.com/2020/02/17/thai-government-considering-officially-extending-songkran-holiday-this-year-to-boost-tourism/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Penevil Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 3 hours ago, Painter said: And just what is a full rainmaking operation? Thailand has a Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. It began as a project of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. From the Bangkok Post: The gift that keeps on giving The late King's initiative finds new use It is a system of weather modification that uses chemicals to seed clouds. Thai artificial rainmaking operations to begin sooner to fight drought Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 20:43:17|Editor: Shi Yinglun Quote BANGKOK, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives on Friday told reporters that it has assigned the rainmaking division to start artificial rain-making operations sooner this year as drought is spreading fast in the dry season. The ministry's Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation is now conducting maintenance work for aircraft and training personnel so that they can fly the skies to create rain, said deputy agriculture minister Thammanat Prompao. "The artificial rain making missions will start on February 17, sooner than the normal schedule on March 1," said Thammanat. "The operations will cover 25 river basins across the country." He also said that thorough check-up and maintenance of aircraft involving 26 rain-making planes will be completed before the end of January. Surasee Kittimonthon, the director-general of the Royal Rainmaking and Agriculture Aviation Department said that in the meantime, five aircraft are operational for the missions to create artificial rain in the areas, affected by drought and ultra-fine dust air pollution. Flight trainings are being undertaken before the beginning of the mission to fight drought this year, the deputy minister said. Evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazle Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Evil Penevil said: It is a system of weather modification that uses chemicals to seed clouds. Fills me with horror to consider what sort of chemicals might end up raining down on us! We probably won't understand until a few years down the line when everyone gets sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fygjam Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 6 hours ago, Bazle said: Fills me with horror to consider what sort of chemicals might end up raining down on us! We probably won't understand until a few years down the line when everyone gets sick. The most common chemicals used for cloud seeding include silver iodide, potassium iodide and dry ice (solid carbon dioxide). Liquid propane, which expands into a gas, has also been used. This can produce ice crystals at higher temperatures than silver iodide. After promising research, the use of hygroscopic materials, such as table salt, is becoming more popular. Cloud seeding was first tested in 1946 and has been used in Thailand for over 60 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 12 hours ago, mrcharliemofo said: If this is true and considering where it's come from it may not be but if it's true you really do just have to shake your head at the sheer level of stupidity of some people. https://thepattayanews.com/2020/02/17/thai-government-considering-officially-extending-songkran-holiday-this-year-to-boost-tourism/ Have they no shame. Can't believe they're even considering extending Songkran when we're in the midst of the worst drought in several decades. That's not just stupid, that's insane. Bangkok Post article: Nine-day Songkran under consideration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 Now we know where the water trucks are getting their clean water. My neighbor is selling his swimming pool water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 Time for the bi-weekly update of the shrinking Mabprachan Reservoir. As before, for reference purposes a screenshot of where the pics were taken. Water Edge as of 23 Feb, 2020 Pic 01: Quite a few more tree stumps exposed. Pic 02 Only a small gap now in the land bridge. Pic 03: Estimate another 1/2m drop in the water level. Probably the last time I can use this spot as a water level gauge since it looks like in another week there'll be dry land around the structure. Water Edge as of 23 Feb, 2020 Pic 04: Innovative use of a boat's pontoon for a bridge. Pic 05: Pumps moving water from the main body to the channel leading to the pumping station. Pic 06: Thai's manning the pumps were quite helpful directing me under the outflow pipes to make my way across the land bridge. Pic 07 Pic 08: The gap in the land bridge looks a bit too deep to cross. Pic 18: And indeed it was too deep. When I was on the other side of the reservoir noticed a couple of guys crossing the gap. Both were in over their heads and had to swim to the other side. Pic 09: With most of the reservoir dried up decided to take a shortcut across what was previously lake bottom to the pumping station. Looking back towards the pumps. Area to the right is the wide mouth to the channel leading to the pumping station. Noticed another group on mtn bikes making their way across the land bridge. Pic 10: Two weeks ago they had an earth retaining wall around the pumping station and were pumping water from the channel into the small pond it contained. They must have dug the channel deeper as now the pumps are gone and the retaining wall is open on both ends. It was a mistake trying to cross the narrow bit in the above pic. Took a tentative step into the wet area and immediately sunk to mid-calf. Decided I might as well continue on and fortunately I didn't sink any deeper. Pic 11: Nice of them to leave the pumping station gate unlocked again for me. Pic 12: Looks like these guys have started a fish farm. Doesn't look like much change in the water level in this area from two weeks ago. Maybe looking at the top of the water table, in which case as long as they don't bring pumps in, they should continue to have water for their fish. Pic 13 Pic 14 Pic 15 Pic 16 Pic 17 Pic 19 Pic 20 Pic 21: The pump house in the above pic is now drawing its water from a pipe that extends a long way out to the main body of water. They might be thinking of holding the pond in reserve for when the reservoir runs dry. As mentioned in a prior post, this water is being used for the tourist trap, Flower Land. Seems to me to be a pretty selfish use of a public use/need commodity that is fast becoming scarce. Pic 22: A stark reminder of just how much the water level has dropped. 2 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 Pattaya Water Reservoir at Mapprachan Lake at lowest level in twenty years Interesting stat from the article... "the reservoir hit the lowest level in twenty years at 16% left of the total volume of the lake", I think that's a fair estimate of what usable water remains. I call BS on this statement though, "local leaders say the volume of water they have is enough to last through May when more rain is predicted" At current consumption levels I expect the reservoir to run out of usable water by mid-April, if not sooner. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcharliemofo Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 2 hours ago, forcebwithu said: Pattaya Water Reservoir at Mapprachan Lake at lowest level in twenty years Interesting stat from the article... "the reservoir hit the lowest level in twenty years at 16% left of the total volume of the lake", I think that's a fair estimate of what usable water remains. I call BS on this statement though, "local leaders say the volume of water they have is enough to last through May when more rain is predicted" At current consumption levels I expect the reservoir to run out of usable water by mid-April, if not sooner. I've just read that link and it'll be alright as they had the ceremony so it'll chuck it down now so we're all saved. Also they're desperate for Songkran to go ahead at all costs, going to be an interesting few weeks now to see how they're going to play it regarding the moron party ( Songkran ). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painter Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 (edited) https://www.pattayamail.com/featured/cloud-seeders-said-they-made-it-rain-in-pattaya-this-year-289078 Better get those planes up.... there's clouds in that there sky, and dark ones at that! Edited February 25, 2020 by Painter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 33 minutes ago, Painter said: https://www.pattayamail.com/featured/cloud-seeders-said-they-made-it-rain-in-pattaya-this-year-289078 Better get those planes up.... there's clouds in that there sky, and dark ones at that! Laughed when I read this quote from the article. "The cloud seeders have been hampered by a lack of clouds, which Verapol said was a byproduct of windy weather." Verapol, the director of the cloud seeding effort, should attend a few more meteorological classes to have better understanding of how, when and why clouds develop. Current weather radar shows some storms popping up south of Pattaya. Perhaps later today we'll see some rain in Pattaya too. https://weather.tmd.go.th/svp120Loop.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painter Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 29 minutes ago, forcebwithu said: Laughed when I read this quote from the article. "The cloud seeders have been hampered by a lack of clouds, which Verapol said was a byproduct of windy weather." Verapol, the director of the cloud seeding effort, should attend a few more meteorological classes to have better understanding of how, when and why clouds develop. Current weather radar shows some storms popping up south of Pattaya. Perhaps later today we'll see some rain in Pattaya too. https://weather.tmd.go.th/svp120Loop.php Yup.... the lack of clouds excuse made me chuckle! Wonder if they'll take credit for any rain that might fall later? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 On 2/25/2020 at 9:04 AM, forcebwithu said: Pattaya Water Reservoir at Mapprachan Lake at lowest level in twenty years Interesting stat from the article... "the reservoir hit the lowest level in twenty years at 16% left of the total volume of the lake", I think that's a fair estimate of what usable water remains. I call BS on this statement though, "local leaders say the volume of water they have is enough to last through May when more rain is predicted" At current consumption levels I expect the reservoir to run out of usable water by mid-April, if not sooner. a lot of the so called water will be mud before it hits the pumps. they are draining every little pond on the lake toward the pumps but i cant see that working for 30 let alone 60 days. close by many wells are drying up too. I for one, as a local close by, am worried. we are setting up our pump and well system to run 30 ins on 1 hr off, in the hope that that helps it keep replenished. all houses have 1000 litre tanks so as long as we can draw thru the day, we will turn the supply on for 2 hrs in the early morning and thats it, to top up the tanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 3 hours ago, tommy dee said: a lot of the so called water will be mud before it hits the pumps. they are draining every little pond on the lake toward the pumps but i cant see that working for 30 let alone 60 days. close by many wells are drying up too. I for one, as a local close by, am worried. we are setting up our pump and well system to run 30 ins on 1 hr off, in the hope that that helps it keep replenished. all houses have 1000 litre tanks so as long as we can draw thru the day, we will turn the supply on for 2 hrs in the early morning and thats it, to top up the tanks The official report on reservoir volumes list a minimum storage volume for that reason. Past a certain point, while there's still technically water in the reservoir, they'll be sucking a lot of mud along with the water. The Eastern Water Resources dept was a bit more timely posting their weekly update. Water consumption is still at 4 million cubic meters/week, so the estimate of sucking the last drop of usable water somewhere around 17 April, if not sooner still holds true regardless of what the govt would like you to believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 hoping for oyur update on this. in an attempt to noce to be nice, i have been renovating 3 swimming pools. and pumped water from one to another. didnt save much in the way money i think as the pump was running 24 hrs, but will only have refilled 2 pools with a truck. am amazed at how much is evaporating already in the sun even tho the hot season hasnt started yet, and no they arent leaking :) as to local wells, bore holes. ours is still holding out so the water table is still good up here above the lake. but for how long we dont know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 1 hour ago, tommy dee said: hoping for oyur update on this. in an attempt to noce to be nice, i have been renovating 3 swimming pools. and pumped water from one to another. didnt save much in the way money i think as the pump was running 24 hrs, but will only have refilled 2 pools with a truck. am amazed at how much is evaporating already in the sun even tho the hot season hasnt started yet, and no they arent leaking 🙂 as to local wells, bore holes. ours is still holding out so the water table is still good up here above the lake. but for how long we dont know I'll get out and do a proper photo recon of Mabprachan early next week. Eastern Water Resources is late once again in posting their weekly update. Now two weeks behind. To hold you over until my next photo recon, here's a couple pics I snapped and the end of yesterday's group ride. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john luke Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 Leakage of water on Beach Road. Appears to be emanating from somewhere under the footpath but see damage on bottom left hand side of photograph 3 where there is enough leaking water to damage the road surface. Quite some time ago before UK water authorities got their act together there was quite a fuss about them failing to control water leaks and maintain the pipes and network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 The Eastern Water Resources dept has finally gotten around to updating their Weekly Water Situation report. The last report I posted was on 21 February, and the combined reservoir level stood then at 63.15 million cubic meters (MCM). Their 28 February report had the level at 58.76 MCM, and the latest report, 6 March reports the level is now at 55.42 MCM. That works out to a water consumption rate of 3.9 MCM/week. We now have about 23.7 MCM of usable water left in the reservoirs, or about 6 weeks of water left. My estimate of 17 April as the day the taps run dry still holds true. I'm heading out now to snap pics of the Mabprachan Reservoir meadows and mud hole. Will post a photo update of Mabprachan later today. source: https://www.eastwater.com/en/Customer/WeeklyWaterSituation 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 think u nught even be shocked mate.. heat and useage has seen it drop a lot. stopped just now on way homw from work and there is just a large pond near the pump house and thats about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 As promised, the latest photo update of the shrinking Mabprachan Reservoir. You can see in the screenshot below today's ride spent a lot of time riding areas that used to be underwater, but is now bone dry lakebed. First up is the southern edge of the water. Pic 01: Still a bit of water, but not much, around the overflow structure. Northern edge of the water. Pic 02: Panoramic shot looking east at what's left of the main body of water in the reservoir. Pic 03: Pumping water from the main body to the channel that leads to the pumping station. Pic 04: Draining the last bit of water from this area. Pic 05: North of the pumping station there is no more water to be had. Pic 06 Pic 07 Pic 08 Pic 09 Pic 10 Pic 11: High spots in the area north of the land bridge are now becoming visible. It won't be long before the water is drained from this area too. Pic 12: Gap in the land bridge. Still too deep to wade across. Pic 13: This gap though can be easily waded across. This guy provided a good example of how shallow it is around this area. It wasn't until he reached the buoys that the water was over his head. Dry land as of 10 Mar, 2020 Pic 14: Fishing shelter left high and dry. Pic 15: Tree stump sentinels wondering where all the water went. Pic 16: I imagine this cistern dates back to a time before the reservoir was built. Pic 17: The floating pump house is no longer drawing water from what's left of the main body of water. 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 1 hour ago, tommy dee said: think u nught even be shocked mate.. heat and useage has seen it drop a lot. stopped just now on way homw from work and there is just a large pond near the pump house and thats about it If it's true this pump house is serving the water needs of Flower Land, and with the main body of water on its last legs, those dependent on the reservoir are going to be a tad upset Flower Land is hoarding water for their own use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 when you see the depth, and hope shallow the water is, its really is on its last legs. as the hot season seems to have kicked in in the past 7 days evaporation too becomes a major issue. I watch the swimming pool and am amazed some days how much goes off toward la soleil flowerland was originally promised to be a shopping mall with robinsons in it.. how eASILY WE WERE MISLED 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 On 2/23/2020 at 4:57 PM, forcebwithu said: Time for the bi-weekly update of the shrinking Mabprachan Reservoir. As before, for reference purposes a screenshot of where the pics were taken. Water Edge as of 23 Feb, 2020 Pic 01: Quite a few more tree stumps exposed. Pic 02 Only a small gap now in the land bridge. Pic 03: Estimate another 1/2m drop in the water level. Probably the last time I can use this spot as a water level gauge since it looks like in another week there'll be dry land around the structure. Water Edge as of 23 Feb, 2020 Pic 04: Innovative use of a boat's pontoon for a bridge. Pic 05: Pumps moving water from the main body to the channel leading to the pumping station. Pic 06: Thai's manning the pumps were quite helpful directing me under the outflow pipes to make my way across the land bridge. Pic 07 Pic 08: The gap in the land bridge looks a bit too deep to cross. Pic 18: And indeed it was too deep. When I was on the other side of the reservoir noticed a couple of guys crossing the gap. Both were in over their heads and had to swim to the other side. Pic 09: With most of the reservoir dried up decided to take a shortcut across what was previously lake bottom to the pumping station. Looking back towards the pumps. Area to the right is the wide mouth to the channel leading to the pumping station. Noticed another group on mtn bikes making their way across the land bridge. Pic 10: Two weeks ago they had an earth retaining wall around the pumping station and were pumping water from the channel into the small pond it contained. They must have dug the channel deeper as now the pumps are gone and the retaining wall is open on both ends. It was a mistake trying to cross the narrow bit in the above pic. Took a tentative step into the wet area and immediately sunk to mid-calf. Decided I might as well continue on and fortunately I didn't sink any deeper. Pic 11: Nice of them to leave the pumping station gate unlocked again for me. Pic 12: Looks like these guys have started a fish farm. Doesn't look like much change in the water level in this area from two weeks ago. Maybe looking at the top of the water table, in which case as long as they don't bring pumps in, they should continue to have water for their fish. Pic 13 Pic 14 Pic 15 Pic 16 Pic 17 Pic 19 Pic 20 Pic 21: The pump house in the above pic is now drawing its water from a pipe that extends a long way out to the main body of water. They might be thinking of holding the pond in reserve for when the reservoir runs dry. As mentioned in a prior post, this water is being used for the tourist trap, Flower Land. Seems to me to be a pretty selfish use of a public use/need commodity that is fast becoming scarce. Pic 22: A stark reminder of just how much the water level has dropped. Top quality Target recon are you Ex Military or CIA ?. JDM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 (edited) On 3/7/2020 at 1:32 PM, tommy dee said: hoping for oyur update on this. in an attempt to noce to be nice, i have been renovating 3 swimming pools. and pumped water from one to another. didnt save much in the way money i think as the pump was running 24 hrs, but will only have refilled 2 pools with a truck. am amazed at how much is evaporating already in the sun even tho the hot season hasnt started yet, and no they arent leaking 🙂 as to local wells, bore holes. ours is still holding out so the water table is still good up here above the lake. but for how long we dont know Time to get my ass in gear I have purchased a water tank and am going to place it on top of my pool pump house however I was concerned about the load bearing roof being able to support it its 2,000lts so I am going to place 4 acro jacks under the roof concrete slabs I have them however need to paint them first I think I will do it today. I am also taking this opportunity to empty my swimming pool and re grout it and change the design a little. There is no government water available where I live so I have a bore hole and a good size under ground holding tank. I will do some calculation's on water holding (both tanks) and usage my pool is a fair size so not topping it up will help with usage. If the shit hits the fan I am planning on using one and topping it up from a truck keeping one as a last stand back up in case the trucks dry up then its down to shovel shits, installing a piss pipe in the ground ( not used one since 2003 and now being retired did not think I ever would again Ha Ha. And rationed bottle water ( I have a large stock) I may buy more. I have a friend who lives in a condo in Pattaya who has purchased a massive amount of 15lt containers he has made a wall against a wall in his condo with it. Having seen the photos I now realise its time to get a grip and sort it out. JDM Edited March 12, 2020 by JDM Put in post piss pipe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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