forcebwithu Posted April 7, 2020 Author Share Posted April 7, 2020 Update from the Eastern Water Resources Dept as of 3 April (link). When I first checked the charts I did a double take to make sure I had pulled up the correct date. Reason is there has been an 11.5 million cubic meter (MCM) increase in the past week. Since there hasn't been enough rain to account for the increase, it's possible Gen Prawit made good on his 19 March statement, "the government would extract 14 million cubic metres of water from old mining sites. The Royal Irrigation Department has also diverted 10 million cubic metres from a river in Chanthaburi province to replenish three reservoirs in Rayong and Chon Buri provinces". If the numbers in the latest update are correct (see note above second chart), we would be in a position to make it until the May rains arrive. Thank Buddha for that as I was out this morning on a photo recon of Mabprachan Reservoir and it is on its last legs. Working on editing those photos and will have another post later this morning. Note: The following chart is still showing a decrease in water volume compared to the previous week, thus my questioning of the accuracy of the numbers. It's not just the sign they got wrong on the comparison, the calculated difference isn't correct either. Example: 3 April Bangphra has 33.30 MCM, and on 27 March it was 29.20 MCM. That's an increase of 4.1 MCM, not the decrease of 3.00 MCM listed in the chart. Perhaps we'll see a correction to the chart later in the week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 7, 2020 Author Share Posted April 7, 2020 I was a little worried going out on this morning's photo recon of Mabprachan Reservoir due to the announcement the area reservoirs were closed to all activities. I was also wondering if I might face checkpoints on the way back to my home in Pattaya. Neither concern came to pass as there were 20 or so out on the reservoir running and biking, and there were no checkpoints outbound or on my return. That's the positive, now the negative. Mabprachan has maybe a week to 10 days of water left. There was no point in recording GPS waypoints of the current shoreline as you can see in the pictures below all that's left is basically two, ever shrinking, large pools of water. I've place all the reservoir photo albums into a collection on Flickr (link). For Mabprachan that's a photo history going back to Sept, 2015. For Huai Chak Nok I only started documenting that reservoir in Dec, 2019. @tommy dee, I was thinking the shrinking reservoirs might make for a good news segment on FM 103. Feel free to use any of my photos for your news reports. No remuneration is needed, or wanted. As for attribution, just say contributed by an FM 103 listener. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 4 hours ago, forcebwithu said: I was a little worried going out on this morning's photo recon of Mabprachan Reservoir due to the announcement the area reservoirs were closed to all activities. I was also wondering if I might face checkpoints on the way back to my home in Pattaya. Neither concern came to pass as there were 20 or so out on the reservoir running and biking, and there were no checkpoints outbound or on my return. That's the positive, now the negative. Mabprachan has maybe a week to 10 days of water left. There was no point in recording GPS waypoints of the current shoreline as you can see in the pictures below all that's left is basically two, ever shrinking, large pools of water. I've place all the reservoir photo albums into a collection on Flickr (link). For Mabprachan that's a photo history going back to Sept, 2015. For Huai Chak Nok I only started documenting that reservoir in Dec, 2019. @tommy dee, I was thinking the shrinking reservoirs might make for a good news segment on FM 103. Feel free to use any of my photos for your news reports. No remuneration is needed, or wanted. As for attribution, just say contributed by an FM 103 listener. i tooka few the other day to show how far its gone now, but yours are much better thx. truth is that the city i think has now been zoned with some areas every day getting some water. fire trucks are out at homesa giving water too. our studio, no water 5 days. the lake is done.i sqaw where you took the pic of the pumps and the new barrier to try and build another pond but the depth is same both sides and nothing really there to pump any more. a lot of it is filthy and down to the bare depths which arent really supposed to be used yesterday a fire on the lakeside took out two motel bungalows and nearly the loft pub. when the fire trucks, finally turned up, they ran out of water. now there are hydrants all round the lake and one right by the pub. no one tried to use it so obviously dry. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 We normally do not get any real rainfall until May and then June and July can be quite dry again. If my memory serves me correctly that was how it was last year. It has been so dry even when the rainfall starts it is going to just run off without making any real difference until we get some consistantly consecutive days of meaningful rainfall. It is in touching distance of 40c where I am currently. A monumental thunderstorm would be lovely to break that cycle. Unfortunately, more of the same is expected. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcfc2007 Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 4 hours ago, tommy dee said: i tooka few the other day to show how far its gone now, but yours are much better thx. truth is that the city i think has now been zoned with some areas every day getting some water. fire trucks are out at homesa giving water too. our studio, no water 5 days. the lake is done.i sqaw where you took the pic of the pumps and the new barrier to try and build another pond but the depth is same both sides and nothing really there to pump any more. a lot of it is filthy and down to the bare depths which arent really supposed to be used yesterday a fire on the lakeside took out two motel bungalows and nearly the loft pub. when the fire trucks, finally turned up, they ran out of water. now there are hydrants all round the lake and one right by the pub. no one tried to use it so obviously dry. They had best hope the rains arrive. A drought will only compound the economic carnage that's happening at the minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 7, 2020 Author Share Posted April 7, 2020 26 minutes ago, dcfc2007 said: They had best hope the rains arrive. A drought will only compound the economic carnage that's happening at the minute. The economic damage caused by the drought is already happening. Dry season pushes dept to halt 2nd rice crop 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 picss of the resort on fire this week on the lakeside ande only one of the lake which thought would show the lack of real depth.. dont compare to your shots I am afraid .. just on me phone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 Local news is finally waking up to the fact we're close to running out of water. They do have some good aerial views of the reservoir puddles. Pattaya water levels remain low as Chak Nok reservoir sits at roughly 5 percent of capacity Pattaya- The Provincial Water Authority has warned Pattaya and Chonburi residents to conserve water at this time as due to lack of rain and an ongoing drought the Chak Nok reservoir currently sits at roughly 5 percent of capacity. Local residents have contacted The Pattaya News over the past week complaining about lack of water or water pressure and asking what the issue is overall. Unfortunately, with the current condition of the Chak Nok reservoir and the Mapprachan Lake reservoir not being substantially better temporary water outages are unavoidable in some areas. As a result the Provincial Water Authority has asked people to be prepared for temporary outages over the next several days and keep a supply of three to four days of water. The overall water supply in the Chonburi area is still expected to last until June, however, rain is badly needed to resolve some of the drought issues. With the postponement of the Songkran water festival this year due to the Covid19 crisis, however, it is hoped this will help conserve some of the already low water levels. Photos by the Provincial Water Authority 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcfc2007 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 Telling people to conserve water when you are down at 5%. Fantastic planning. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 our news has been calling it the elephant in the room for over a month now. the little ponds we saw int he fab pics posted here.. are gone. our studio and the southern end of the dark side has had no water for over a week. and the hot season.. has 2 months more to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcfc2007 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 30 minutes ago, tommy dee said: our news has been calling it the elephant in the room for over a month now. the little ponds we saw int he fab pics posted here.. are gone. our studio and the southern end of the dark side has had no water for over a week. and the hot season.. has 2 months more to go The best hope is a period of unseasonal rainfall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 2 hours ago, dcfc2007 said: The best hope is a period of unseasonal rainfall. truth is that it wouldnt make a dent mate, sadly. and the new pipes that were being laid to bring water in.. well work on them has stopped this past week. i reckon the workers all f'd off. fire brigade been delivering free water to some sois and supplies from the reisies are just gone. Hua Yai has a bit but maprachan is to all intents and purposes.. done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcfc2007 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 3 hours ago, tommy dee said: truth is that it wouldnt make a dent mate, sadly. and the new pipes that were being laid to bring water in.. well work on them has stopped this past week. i reckon the workers all f'd off. fire brigade been delivering free water to some sois and supplies from the reisies are just gone. Hua Yai has a bit but maprachan is to all intents and purposes.. done You're probably right. I was meaning a period of sustained rainfall, but that's unlikely. Even a long storm will just run off as the ground is bone dry. Pattaya is in for a serious problem if May doesn't deliver a bounty of rain. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 1 hour ago, dcfc2007 said: You're probably right. I was meaning a period of sustained rainfall, but that's unlikely. Even a long storm will just run off as the ground is bone dry. Pattaya is in for a serious problem if May doesn't deliver a bounty of rain. this combined with the abject failure of most to observe the new east west divide is going to see some repercussions for sure.. not a good day for pattaya today 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcfc2007 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 7 minutes ago, tommy dee said: this combined with the abject failure of most to observe the new east west divide is going to see some repercussions for sure.. not a good day for pattaya today I couldn't agree more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 (edited) The reservoirs are almost dry and govt officials are finally having meetings to "discuss finding a solution", or those meetings are finally making the news. Sattahip and Chonburi officials meet to discuss solutions for severe water supply issues in area Sattahip and Chonburi officials met yesterday morning to discuss finding a solution regarding lack of water and low water pressure in Sattahip after many local complaints. Sathira Pueakprapan, a member of the council in Chonburi and other local officials held the meeting to discuss how to solve water problems in Sattahip at about 11:00 AM yesterday morning. Mr. Sathira told The Pattaya News, “Sattahip area receives water from three main providers which are from the water works authority in Sattahip, Ban Chang and Pattaya.” “Many areas in Thailand are facing drought problems as well as residents in Sattahip. This cause some area to have no water and some area has weak water pressure. Additionally, these problems can be unpredictable and last for extended periods of time. ” “We have confirmed that the overall water supply is still enough in the area until June which will be the end of the dry season. However, please save and conserve water in the interim period.” Sathira continued. “We are trying our best to solve the water problems and divert water from the areas with higher levels of supply.” He finished. Edited April 11, 2020 by forcebwithu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 (edited) Another installment of the shrinking Mabprachan Reservoir from this morning, and five days since the last update. The pictures speak for themself how bad the situation is. Just west of the pumping station is a marsh that has been draining water at a pretty constant rate over the past month. Probably spring fed. The opening in the land bridge in the far background is now closed off. No more water to be had from the other side. Edited April 13, 2020 by forcebwithu marsh is west, not north of the pumping station 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 see the flower farm still hgas its pond full 😞 this is so scary its beyond frightening. they say they are getting water from a river now, bang pakong i think they said. but not enough for the city Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanzalad Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Its beyond belief they are not dredging it out for future capacity which would help in future problems of water shortage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 2 minutes ago, tommy dee said: see the flower farm still hgas its pond full 😞 this is so scary its beyond frightening. they say they are getting water from a river now, bang pakong i think they said. but not enough for the city I'm wondering how the population that is now experiencing water cuts would feel about Flower Land's hoard of water from a public reservoir if it made it into the news. I believe the water diversion to the other area reservoirs happened as the 3 April Eastern Water Resources water situation report noted an increase of 11.5 MCM from the previous week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 6 minutes ago, Lanzalad said: Its beyond belief they are not dredging it out for future capacity which would help in future problems and water shortage. They may be waiting until the last usable drop of water gets pumped out of the reservoir. Another thought, they may not be able to increase the capacity of the reservoir due to engineering limitations of the dam. If the dam was designed and built to contain a set volume of water, increasing the reservoir capacity may exceed its design limitation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 14 minutes ago, Lanzalad said: Its beyond belief they are not dredging it out for future capacity which would help in future problems of water shortage. the issue is, I am told, that iof they dredge and dig it deeper, then the current few remaining water pockets that they are tryng to get to the pumps, will simply dispate into the newly dug areas. the issue isnt the reservoir really its the total lack of rain last year. Mabparachan isnt a conventional reservoir, its a holding tank, normally supplied by numerous feeders. and the feeders are dried up they were racing to lay new supply pipes into the city, see chayabruk 2, all dug up and half of the piping now undergrund. then all the workers fucked off with their equipment about 10 days ago. nothing happening now, i think they have given up ffs the water table on the DS is still high enough to use, the probem is that its never going to be enuf for the city. and the size of a desalination plant needed for the city is enormous. in fact unreal. i know someone looked into that a while back and the biggest would only work for a small part of the city. its a fuckin mess for sure tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 Private wells normally access water closest to the surface, whereas a city supply would drill deeper to access aquifer layers with enough volume to supply a city's needs. Couldn't find anything specific to Chonburi, but did find a study for the Bangkok area that had a graphic showing various aquifers and the depth of each. Chonburi probably has something similar in the area. I'm surprised they haven't announced plans to start drilling to supplement the area reservoirs. source: http://www.davidpublisher.org/Public/uploads/Contribute/55078898cb5e0.pdf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcebwithu Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 Decide to get out early this morning and beat the heat to get a photo update on Huai Chak Nok Reservoir. Also wanted to get this in before Pattaya Lockdown v2 goes into effect tomorrow. I think this small pond on the west side of the reservoir is for recreational purposes only. There's no pumping station that I could see, and before the closure I would see jet skis racing around. Wonder how long before they cut a channel through the retaining wall and let it drain into the reservoir. Last update was on 1 April and it appears the shore line has receded about 10 meters since then. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy dee Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 the jet skis were illgal, hence it was stopped. i think someone brat started it. using fuel powered crafts on a reservoir here is strictly banned. they lasted about 2 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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