BANGKOK, Jan 13 (TNA) — The Royal Irrigation Department successfully controlled the salinity of raw water used to produce tap water for greater Bangkok during the latest high tide.
Thongplew Kongjun, director-general of the department, said the department started to discharge more water from Chao Phraya and Rama VI dams in the Chao Phraya river and divert water from Mae Klong and Tha Chin rivers west of Bangkok to the Chao Phraya river from Jan 7.
The measures were aimed especially to confront seawater in the lower part of the Chao Phraya river during the latest high tide from the night of Jan 12 to Jan 13 morning. The target for the salinity control is the Sam Lae pumping station of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority in the Chao Phraya river in Pathum Thani province north of Bangkok.
Consequently salinity at the pumping station was at 0.16 gram per liter of water, below the alert level of 0.25g/l, at 9am on Jan 13, Mr Thongplew said.
The Royal Irrigation Department also asked the MWA to suspend pumping water at the station for two hours a day during the low tide to avoid remaining salinity in the Chao Phraya river, he said.
The Royal Irrigation Department would repeat the same measure in the next high tide on Jan 24-25 but salinity during the period would not raise much concern because the next high tide would be lower than the latest one, Mr Thongplew said.
He also said that his department was conducting a three-dimensional study on the structure of the Phraya Banbue canal used to divert water from Mae Klong and Tha Chin rivers to the Chao Phraya river to ensure efficient salinity control in Chao Phraya river. (TNA)
