KANCHANABURI: The spillway gates at Vajiralongkorn dam in Thong Pha Phum district have been opened for the first time in 16 years to maintain the reservoir at a manageable level, but the impact downstream will be small.
Waiwit Saengpanit, director of the dam, opened the two gates on Thursday morning, increasing the discharge rate from 43 million cubic metres to 53 million cu/m a day.
He said it was planned to keep it open for five days. Increasing discharge rate by 10 million cu/m a day would raise the level of the Kwai Noi River only slightly.
On Thursday, the dam, also known as the Khao Laem dam, held 8.03 billion cu/m of water, 91% of its manageable capacity. The level was 2.49 metres above its upper rule curve.
In the previous 24 hours, inflow to the dam totalled 50.1 million cu/m.
The first area to be affected was Chalerm Phrakiat Rama IX public park, about 5 kilometres downstream on the Kwai Noi River. The river level had been 30 centimetres above its banks there for about 10 days. It was expected to rise by up to one metre.
Local hoteliers along the river have already moved their belongings higher and the rise would not affect local communities, Mr Waiwit said.
