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Closure of sluice gates delayed
Villagers blame Egat for flooding
upstream
Bangkok post, Nov 01, 2002
http://search.bangkokpost.co.th/bkkpost/2002/nov2002/bp20021101/news/01nov2002_news25.html
Anchalee Kongrut
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has
agreed to postpone the closure of sluice gates at Pak Moon dam after local
residents complained going ahead as planned would worsen flooding problems
in Ubon Ratchathani province.
The gates would be closed next week instead of today to alleviate the public
concern, Egat deputy governor Chalermchai Ratanarak said.
However, he denied the dam had caused flooding upstream in the Ubon
Ratchathani provincial capital.
Local residents claimed the dam had impeded the flow of the Moon river,
keeping flood levels high in Ubon Ratchathani for the past month.
``The flow of the Moon river is hindered by Kaeng Tana rapids,'' Mr
Chalermchai said.
``The dam has nothing to do with the flooding.''
The dam had been designed to drain floodwater at a speed of up to 18,500
cubic metres per second, or twice as fast as the flow of the river when the
province suffered its worst flooding in 1978, he said.
Assembly of the Poor adviser Wanida Tantiwittayapitak dismissed Egat's
explanation.
``The flooding occurred after the dam was built eight years ago,'' she said.
``The rapids have been there for hundreds of years.''
The electricity authority was told by cabinet last month to close the dam's
eight sluice gates after they had been left open for a year to allow
environmental impact studies to be conducted.
The agency said it had lost over 500 million baht in revenue from
electricity that should have been generated during that period.
Endorsed by former deputy prime minister Pongpol Adireksan, the cabinet
decision stunned residents
It contradicted the findings of a government-sponsored study that had been
carried out by Ubon Ratchathani University.
The study recommended the dam's sluice gates be kept open for five years to
allow the river's ecology time to recover.
It also found a significant increase in the number of fish that were
swimming upstream to spawn while the gates were left open. |
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