New drainage system will stretch 50km
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... nderground
City Hall is planning to build four more giant underground tunnels to complete its ambitious and long-term flood prevention plan for Bangkok.
The added tunnels would double the efficiency of the city's water drainage system, Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said yesterday.
The new drainage system will be made up of four gigantic tunnels, each with a diameter of five to six metres.
The first tunnel would be completed and enter operation in January, MR Sukhumbhand said.
The tunnel system is planned for completion in five years as part of an integrated and sustainable flood prevention plan for Bangkok.
"We will stop wasting most of our flood prevention budget on ad hoc prevention measures," he said.
"We have spent more and more money to purchase sandbags and water pumps.
"Over the past three years, Bangkok has spent more than 11 billion baht on those short-term flood prevention measures. However, Bangkok is still flooded after heavy rain. It's because those measures are not a long-term answer to the flood problem."
The four new tunnels will increase the total length of drainage tunnels in Bangkok to 50km from 14km.
They will be about three times larger than existing drains which are 1.8m in diameter.
The drainage capacity of the city will increase to 240 cubic metres a second from 95 cubic metres when the new underground network is completed.
Construction of the second tunnel is expected to begin during the first half of next year and the third and fourth in 2012.
The first tunnel, the Rama IX-Ramkhamhaeng tunnel, is 5km long, linking Lat Phrao and Saen Saep canals with the Chao Phraya River. The second, the Ratchadaphisek-Sutthisan tunnel, will be 6.5km long, running from Ratchadaphisek Road to the Chao Phraya River under Sutthisan Road.
The third tunnel, called the Don Muang tunnel, will be 13.5km long. It will run from an area near Don Mueang airport to the Chao Phraya River.
The fourth, the Rama IX Park tunnel, is 9.5km long. It will run from Rama IX Park to the Chao Phraya River.
The new tunnel network will help drain water from Lat Phrao, Wang Thonglang, Bang Kapi, Huai Khwang, Bung Kum, Saphan Sung, Din Daeng, Chatuchak, Phaya Thai, Dusit, Bang Sue, Don Muang, Lak Si, Bang Khen, some parts of Sai Mai, Prawet, Phra Khanong, Bang Na and Suan Luang districts, the governor said.
The project has been supported by the Engineering Institute of Thailand, he said.
Suchatvee Suwansawat, dean of engineering at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, said building underground drainage tunnels was the best way to prevent flooding in major cities.
Drainage tunnel systems had been constructed in several major cities in other countries to prevent flooding, said Mr Suchatvee, who is a member of the tunnel and underground construction committee of the Engineering Institute of Thailand.
The existing drainage tunnel system has successfully prevented most flooding in central Bangkok.
The cost for the construction of underground drainage tunnels is about 150 million baht a kilometre, he said.
MR Sukhumbhand said 27 communities along the Chao Phraya River had been affected by floods caused by water run-off from the North in recent weeks.
The BMA would help people in affected communities repair their homes with the help of students from schools supervised by the Office of Vocational Education Commission, he said.
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Not to sure just how this is going to work, given that a big part of Bangkok is already below sea level. The recent floods had the River at 1.98 Metres above sea level, and even the parts of Bangkok that are above sea level are reported to be no more than 2.0 Metres, and sinking!
I think that what they need to do is employ some people from The Netherlands to advise them, they are after all the world experts on such matters.
But, Thais are able to make water run uphill, just look in most Thai bathrooms to see that!
