forcebwithu

The Eastern Water Resources Dept has released the 17 April weekly water situation report (link). The report total is now at 37.15 MCM, a decrease of only 1 MCM from the previous week. While the chart below lists the three reservoirs in the above chart as still having usable water, it could be the reality is they're now in the same condition as Mabprachan and they've stopped pumping there too.

Today's progress report. Knock me over with a feather, they're actually cleaning construction debris from the gutter drains. Each of the low points where flooding typically occurs gets extra wide gutter drains.

Thanks. Post prior to my latest has the water rationing schedule.

It was back on 17 February I made the prediction based on current levels and water consumption rates the reservoirs would run out of water around 17 April. While it's one day early I figured I'd better get out there and get one last update in before Lockdown v2 goes live this afternoon. As it turns out that was a good call. Sometime in the last day or two they have turned off the pumps and given up on getting any more water out of Mabprachan Reservoir. Where before there was the constant background hum of pumps running, today it was eerie silence. Now we know what a reservoir with no usable water looks like. But Flower Land still has their supply of water. Thought I'd end this post with a picture of happier times. The dragon boat races back in August, 2019.

How 'bout that, with maybe two weeks of water left the PVA finally announces what they're going to do about it. Pattaya begins water rationing The Provincial Waterworks Authority has begun rationing tap water with faucets in most Pattaya-area homes only running every other day. With the Mabprachan Reservoir now down to 5 percent of capacity, PWA Pattaya manager Suthat Nutpan said the utility is alternating service between low-lying and elevated areas, with service cut across the board from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Those receiving water service on odd-numbered days are: South Road, Thepprasit Road, Soi Wat Bunkachana and Soi Chaiyapruek 1, Soi Mabyailia 1-21 and Sukhumvit Soi 53 (5-9 a.m. and 4-8 p.m.) Central Road’s southern side and Chaloemphrakiat Road (6 a.m. – 8 p.m.) Soi Khao Noi (5 a.m. – 6 p.m.) North Road’s northern side (6 a.m. – 8 p.m.) Those receiving water service on even-numbered days are: Pratamnak Hill (5 a.m. – 6 p.m.) Central Road’s northern side (6 a.m. – 8 p.m.) Sukhumvit Road near King Power, Soi Arunothai, Sois Sukhumvit 42-46/4 (6 p.m. – 8 p.m.) Huay Yai Soi Chaiyapruek 2, Nong Heep and Khao Makok (5 a.m. – 6 p.m.) Pong, Rung Ruang Village, Soi Mabyailia 6-18/1 (5-9 a.m. and 4-8 p.m.) In other areas, water will run every day or nearly every day. Soi Nernplubwan and Soi Tung Kom (every day 5-9 a.m. and 4-8 p.m.) Naklua Sois 25-33 and Pattayaniwed (5-9 a.m. and 4-8 p.m. every day except April 15-16, 19, 23, 25, 27-28; and May 3-4, 7, 10-11 and 13). Soi Photisan Soi 2-14, Naklua Sois 15-16 (5-9 a.m. and 4-8 p.m. April 17, 20-21, 24-25 and 28-30; and May 1-2, 5, 8-9, and 12-13.)

The Eastern Water Resources Dept released their 10 April weekly water situation report (link) and it's not good at all. For the 3 April report I had some misgivings about the numbers reported as the numbers on one of their charts didn't make sense. As it turns out I think the report on 3 April that showed an increase of 11 MCM was completely wrong. That erroneous report is still on their website if anyone cares to look. On 3 April the report that shows total water volume for three of the reservoirs listed 56.76 MCM for the total. The 10 April report total is 38.21 MCM, a decrease of 18.55 MCM! Those three reservoirs now only have 6.5 MCM of usable water left, about two weeks of water based on an avg consumption of 3 MCM/week. Anyone still believe the govt statement we'll have enough water to last us until June? So now the question is what happened to this water diversion, "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". That quote is from a statement made on 19 March.

Buakhao Tue/Fri market today. Very few vendors, but plenty of parking in the shade.

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.

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.

Apologies for the delay, but routed my morning ride to go up Soi Post Office so I could scope out the scene at the two places you asked about. As for the Post Office... And Little Hole does have food.

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.

Even when the rain does come, like it did about two weeks ago, it didn't even put a dent in the reservoir water deficit.

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

They say the best jokes are told with a pause before the punchline, but I don't think they meant a six month pause.

Progress update on the Beach Rd drainage project beginning on the north end.

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.

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.

Excellent TR. TFP. So very true, "now the weekends have no sport, one day is just the same as any other"

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 openings.

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 since the last update is a retaining wall around this pumping station, and a pump to get water from the main body into the small pond. What I don't understand is why they just didn't dig the channel deeper eliminating the need for a pond and another pump. The latest position of the receding shoreline, just on the other side of the pumping station. Final pic is the other receding shoreline.

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 soon need to look elsewhere for their water needs.