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Not an open door, but openings that allows excess water to flow over the top and into a drain pipe. That pipe runs under the dam and dumps the excess water into a stream bed on the other side. My friend is holding his hands apart noting how high the water is above the top of the openings. The cranks on the top are used to raise and lower partitions to block the flow of water into the overflow pipe. Like other dams around the world with spillways, they're used to control the amount of water released in extreme flooding conditions. The pic below gives you a better view of the overflow openi

A pic from a friend when Mabprachan was overflowing.

Water truck with free water made a trip down our soi this morning. We've been without city water for three days now due to a broken main, so the free water is appreciated. Someone asked if Katesiree was still serving coffee. Sadly the answer is no, at both locations. Still working on the new Jomtien Hospital. Looks like outpatient services are open. Resorts/ST rooms are now closed.

After Mabprachan, next stop was a photo recon on the state of Huai Chak Nok Reservoir. Map updated with waypoints marking the current shoreline edge. When I got to the turnoff for the road over the dam, I was surprised to see they had it barricaded. No doubt closed due to the latest edict from the Chonburi Governor to keep people from gathering in groups of any size. Since I was a group of one, and seeing a guy walking his dogs in the distance I figured I'd chance it. So lifted my bicycle over the barricade and had a nice quiet ride by my lonesome self across the dam. New s

Since Mabprachan is shrinking fast I've increased the frequency of updates. Got out early this morning for another update to beat the heat of the day. Map updated with waypoints marking the current shoreline edge. The receding southern shoreline The dry land opposite the dam is edging even closer Hard to get a fix on what is the northern shoreline edge since it's a cove. Where three days ago there were five pumps, not that I ever saw them all in use at the same time, now there is one. A thirsty city skyline in the distance that will s

Not helping the shortage of water situation is the slow response from the water dept to fixing breaks in the main. Our soi had a major break yesterday morning. In this case the water didn't make it to the surface, but instead the water found a path directly to the storm water drains underneath. You couldn't see the water, but you could definitely hear the gushing water. It was immediately reported, but no one bothered to come to even shut the main off. A few minutes ago I heard a jack hammer at work so went to check it out. While I'm happy to see they're finally working on the break,

Someone should teach the Eastern Water Resources Dept that by definition a weekly water situation report is meant to be released weekly, not two at a time every two weeks. Same as they did the last couple of reports. Anyway, I see this morning both reports for the 20th and 27th have now been posted (link). First thing I checked to see is if the statement Gen Prawit made on 19 March, "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

Got out and had a look at Mabprachan Reservoir this morning. Since the water that remains is relatively shallow, the shoreline has receded quite a bit from the last update five days ago. Maps of the receding shoreline and photo waypoints are now at the end of the post. Pic 01: View from the south end of the dam. The southern shoreline as of today. In a few days that finger of water will be nothing but a memory. They're catching some nice size fish now. Pic 02: Not much of gap left between the dam and the dry land on the other side of the shallow channel

Season 3 is released.

Good news, the rear derailleur was quickly replaced and only set me back 1,500B + 200B for the pickup from where I broke down. Bad news, they replaced the derailleur with the wrong model so it jams when I try to shift up into the two highest gears. Not worth the time and effort to go back to the shop to have them do it correctly, instead ordered the correct model from Lazada for 1,200B which should arrive from China in about a week. Meanwhile the bike is still rideable, so did a group ride with friends this morning and when we were near Huai Chak Nok Reservoir, split from the group to get a ph

In my latest pic of the Soi 6 drain, you can see to the left of the black, plastic drain the concrete drain that I'm pretty sure ties into the laterals coming in from the different sois along Beach Rd. I believe the new drains are meant to supplement the existing storm water drainage, and all lead to the pumping station at the south end of Beach Rd.

Line at Thai Airways office this morning. Road into New Plaza getting a scrub. First thing that caught my eye was the free food part. Thought, that's a nice gesture in these trying times. Alas, once my brain caught up to what my eyes were seeing I realized she was using an old Korando's Bar party poster for a tablecloth.

Update of the north end of Beach Rd as of this morning. Looks like they might be fast tracking the project now that there's very few tourists left. Soi 1 Soi 2 Soi 3 Soi 5 And at Soi 6 it looks like they either dug out the buried pipe that connects the south end of the drains, or they installed the missing section in the past week. At any rate, the water from the north now has a way to continue on to the south.

Did my report late afternoon yesterday, but as I hadn't received the approved email I checked the status and see that it was approved late last night. No email notification, and I checked my spam folder. Probably a minor glitch somewhere that caused the email not to get sent, or it got eaten by the same gremlin that eats one sock out of a pair in the wash. Just a heads up to BM's in case they're wondering where their approval email is.

Earlier today I had one Bangkok Bank ATM give me a communication error message when I tried to withdraw some cash. Went to another BB ATM and withdrew the money just fine. Suspect the network was just overloaded from all the panicked people trying to get cash. Sad really all the rumors floating around and people panicking as a result. Too bad their govt is mostly to blame for the rumor mills with the way they're handling this emergency announcement. BTW, mine wasn't a panic withdrawal, just the normal, every couple of days replenish my pocket cash withdrawal.

Now that we're getting down to the last bits of usable water it's quite visible how quickly Mabprachan Reservoir is shrinking. The southern water's edge as of today. Pic 01: Not much water left in the reservoir. The only relatively deep water that remains is close to the dam, with the majority of the area left covered in water relatively shallow. Best guess is there's maybe two weeks, three at the most of usable water in Mabprachan. Pic 02 North side is more shallow than the southern side, so the water's edge is receding at a faster pace. Only a small ch

On my next photo recon I'll try and get more rebar porn shots for you.

Beach Rd photo update, starting from the north end. Never noticed any customers before today at the Thai Airways office. Line out the door keeping a proper social distance, probably looking to rebook canceled flights. Looking north opposite Holiday Inn Looking south from the same spot Soi 1 Noticed this guy digging himself a cool spot in the sand. Pavement work opposite The Bay Water north of Soi 6 is currently draining into a pit. Very odd they don't have a pipe yet that connects to the new drains south of this po

We can all breathe a sigh of relief... Taps on eastern seaboard 'won't run dry', says Prawit Problem is the numbers in the article have no bearing on reality. The government has assured households on the eastern seaboard that their taps will not run dry over coming months. Industrial development in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) has sparked rising demand for water in several eastern provinces. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon -- director of the country's Water Operation Command Centre -- told media that consumers will not run short despite low levels in rese

Or use the online 90 report (link). No trip to immigration required, and as a bonus you save the agent fee.

After my ride around Huai Chak Nok Reservoir I headed over to Mabprachan Reservoir to see if Sunday's rain helped the situation there. Looking at the progression of the water's edge waypoints for this reservoir, it looks like Sunday's downpour didn't have an appreciable effect on the drop in water level. Water Edge as of 17 March, 2020 What was noticeable was the lack of water around the pumps since the last update one week ago. They now have to draw water from a channel that leads to the main body of water. Pic 01 Pic 02 Water Edge as of 17

A couple of reservoir photo updates today. First up is Huai Chak Nok Reservoir. The Google Earth screenshot gives you a sense of how much the water level has dropped by the progression of the water's edge waypoints over time. Pic 01: Small holding pond on the western side of the reservoir with its own pumping station. Pic 02 Pic 03: New since the last update on 15 February is a floating pump house. Probably needed to extend the business end of the pump out into deeper water. That pump feeds a small retaining pond on the other side of the dam. Pic 0

The Eastern Water Resources dept Weekly Water Situation report for the week ending 13 March is now online (link). Consumption is up from the week before at 4.7 million cubic meters (MCM) for the week. There is now 19 MCM of usable water left in the reservoirs. Using an avg consumption of 4 MCM/week, that gives us about 5 weeks of water left. We're still on track to run dry sometime before 17 April. BTW, after yesterday's rain the city water supply was again running to my house.

Y'all can thank me for the rain. Filled the rainwater collection tank last night from the water truck, so no surprise it's raining buckets of water 12 hours later.