PM Prayut recommends monkey cheeks to mitigate flooding in low-lying areas

[webfact]

PM recommends monkey cheeks to mitigate flooding in low-lying areas

 

 

SURAT THANI: -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha told flood victims in Surat Thani that, as a preventive measure against future flooding in low-lying land, monkey cheeks or water catchment areas should be built while natural waterways should not be blocked to allow water to run free.

 

The prime minister, accompanied by a handful of his cabinet ministers and military top brass, toured flood-stricken districts of Poonpin, Khien Sa and Ban Na Derm. They visited a flood relief centre located at Khao Hua Kwai power plant and met about 5,000 flood victims.

 

Addressing the crowd, the prime minister said he came to Surat Thani out of concern for the sufferings of flood victims as a whole. He said the government had authorized provincial governors to take charge of officials of various ministries in their respective provinces in addressing the needs of the people.

 

Admitting that there is no prevention against flooding in low-lying areas, but he said that certain measures could be taken to mitigate the problem such as building of monkey cheeks, digging ponds to store water for use during the dry season and unclogging natural waterways.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pm-recommends-monkey-cheeks-mitigate-flooding-low-lying-areas/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-01-27

[Somtamnication]

If monkey cheeks are used, that would get rid of most of the politicians in BKK! 

[ezzra]

This is very hard to resist...

Every time someone mention Thais and monkeys in the same breath, I get those sudden urges to say something , but....

 

 

 

[SABloke]

When I saw the headline I thought he was going to propose some ritual using monkey cheek...and I didn't even thhink twice about it. That is how low my expectations have become. -_-

[bluebluewater]

How in the heck, in this day and age, in a tropical country with seasonal rains that often create flooding can the cornerstone of their water management be "monkey cheeks" ?

[Briggsy]

5 minutes ago, bluebluewater said:

How in the heck, in this day and age, in a tropical country with seasonal rains that often create flooding can the cornerstone of their water management be "monkey cheeks" ?

1. It has become a mantra in Thailand.

2. Prayut (and a lot of other Thai bigshots) like to shoot from the hip and appear all-knowing but he is not an expert in irrigation or flood management.

3. Monkey cheeks was one of the concepts tried under one of the Royal Projects.

 

The Royal Irrigation Dept. will ignore Prayut and just do what they were going to do anyway.

[Brer Fox]

5 minutes ago, bluebluewater said:

How in the heck, in this day and age, in a tropical country with seasonal rains that often create flooding can the cornerstone of their water management be "monkey cheeks" ?

You raise a valid question but it is possible because the PM, the font of all knowledge and wisdom, says it can be. He is expert in everything except reducing the road toll, stopping corruption and improving the education system.

[waldroj]

Why does Payut keep pushing the "monkey cheeks" for flood prevention you ask. 

 

The same answer is to be found to the question about his insistence on cloud seeding during drought (and their common link)!  

 

Despite the fact that both have questionable success, their continued application in Thailand is thus assured (irrespective of whether there are any actual mitigation benefits or not). 

[Sphere]

And, advance warning of floods will be delivered by carrier pigeons.....

[IMA_FARANG]

"Monkey Cheeks" is a name used to refer to areas used to temporarily hold excess water in times of higher than normal rainfall.

They are designed to store that excess water before a river floods and then release the excess water later.

Another term for them is "wetlands" or " marshes".

The recently deceased king, who was a trained water management engineer would have known all about such things.

Proper use of such water management areas can help prevent river flooding and also provide areas where aquatic birds can land to feed on their yearly migrations.

Thailand is a well known route for annual bird migrations from North to South for many aquatic feeding birds.

Of course you all already knew all that information, didn't you?

 

 

 

[mtls2005]

Mosquito breeding grounds.

 

Sure it's a cheap way to manage flooding.

 

A lot of the monkey-cheeks projects in Bangkok use under-ground storage, are well-engineered and recently-constructed.

 

The PM seems to be a self-professed polymath, who often rides to the rescue (through his selflessness ) AFTER a catastrophe.

[BuckBee]

So Jackie Chan be paying for that as monkey idea pm too skint with sub deals and economy decline .

Massive water management development needed and needs doing not talking about doing ... Will need lao and burmese workers though as they all too lazy here unless it a 5 minute job on an old falang ...

 

[biplanebluey]

2 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

"Monkey Cheeks" is a name used to refer to areas used to temporarily hold excess water in times of higher than normal rainfall.

They are designed to store that excess water before a river floods and then release the excess water later.

Another term for them is "wetlands" or " marshes".

The recently deceased king, who was a trained water management engineer would have known all about such things.

Proper use of such water management areas can help prevent river flooding and also provide areas where aquatic birds can land to feed on their yearly migrations.

Thailand is a well known route for annual bird migrations from North to South for many aquatic feeding birds.

Of course you all already knew all that information, didn't you?

 

 

 

No /I for one had no idea what people were talking about (monkey cheeks?????) Thank you for that post 

[Enoon]

 

Storage of water during times of abundance, in cisterns, reservoirs and storage canals, for use during dry periods has existed in irrigation systems since the dawn of civilisation.

 

The great ancient empires would not have flourished without them.

 

Monkey cheek = storage canal,  but that makes it sound like it "wasn't invented here".

 

Credit must be given to the King for interpreting well established "foreign" ideas in a way that other, less imaginative and cosmopolitan Thais (all too many of them), could "understand".

 

The greatest task for anyone seeking to "improve" Thailand.

 

 

[Jai Dee]

A couple of troll posts have been removed from this thread.

[CantSpell]

44 Monkey cheeks please Mr PM..

 

Such a amazing idea, I kind of expect the whole world to start speaking Thai by tomorrow morning 

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

PM recommends monkey cheeks to mitigate flooding in low-lying areas

Maybe a translation error.

Not monkey cheeks but tongue in cheek

[Reigntax]

Monkey cheeks or baboons shooting from the mouth?

[elgordo38]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Admitting that there is no prevention against flooding in low-lying areas, but he said that certain measures could be taken to mitigate the problem such as building of monkey cheeks, digging ponds to store water for use during the dry season and unclogging natural waterways.

Another great solution. No mention of funding though. 

[Redline]

What happened to the big propellers?  I want to see that

[ratcatcher]

9 hours ago, biplanebluey said:

No /I for one had no idea what people were talking about (monkey cheeks?????) Thank you for that post 

There are lots of cheeky monkeys and monkey cheeks in Lopburi..

[docshock13]

16 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

"Monkey Cheeks" is a name used to refer to areas used to temporarily hold excess water in times of higher than normal rainfall.

They are designed to store that excess water before a river floods and then release the excess water later.

Another term for them is "wetlands" or " marshes".

The recently deceased king, who was a trained water management engineer would have known all about such things.

Proper use of such water management areas can help prevent river flooding and also provide areas where aquatic birds can land to feed on their yearly migrations.

Thailand is a well known route for annual bird migrations from North to South for many aquatic feeding birds.

Of course you all already knew all that information, didn't you?

 

 

 

Monkey cheeks or constructed wetlands are the most practical and cost-effective means of both mitigating floods and drought in places such as Thailand that have salient and prolonged wet/rainy seasons and dry seasons. The relatively small upfront costs can save enormous sums in the long run in terms of flood-damaged property/infrastructure and loss of livelihood from damaged crops. Constructed wetlands can save crops and infrastructure from flood damage (during the rainy season) while storing excess water for irrigation/household use during the dry season. The solution is really win-win-win-win and easy to implement ( 1) no flood damage to crops 2) no flood damage to infrastructure 3) increased capacity and production of crops during dry season 4) no loss of harvest due to drought during dry season). Then consider the knock-on effects of ecosystem services provided by wetlands: re-charge of groundwater supplies, reduction of erosion and soil nutrient loss, reduction of nutrient contamination downstream (e.g. eutrophication of estuaries), increase in biodiversity (new or replenished habitats for a number of species including migrating birds). 

Hate to say it, it is a good idea (that has been around in other countries for decades). That being said I deplore the individual that bestowed this "wisdom and knowledge" (though it is common knowledge) and acted as if it was a new revelation. 

[bangon04]

23 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

If monkey cheeks are used, that would get rid of most of the politicians in BKK! 

real pity that Jatuporn has lost a lot of weight in prison - he could have solved the problem on his own...

[Srikcir]

On 1/27/2017 at 5:02 AM, webfact said:

building of monkey cheeks, digging ponds to store water for use during the dry season and unclogging natural waterways.

Obviously not high-tech or novel solutions that have been available for eons.

So why the lack of such solutions for predictable perinnial flooding in Thailand?

 

To mitigate last year's drought the military drilled over 1,000 wells and dug resevoirs that shows it's willing to invest in doable solutions. So it's not the lack of willpower to mitigate flooding problems. It must therefore be the lack of priority, ie., military agenda before civilian agenda. Submarines & tanks vs flooding aid.

[wakeupplease]

Him again with the big ideas that mean naff all

 

Does he expect the rest of the world to work with him or just the Chinese?

 

He is so embarasing

 an idiot could do better

 

spend some of that dam cash you ripped off from the nice Thais on preventing flooding

but its easier to run the mouth hey pm

Happy days

 

[Bullie]

I have to say that for once I completely concur with the proposed solution of introducing more Kaem Ling (monkey cheeks) along the waterways.

In the Netherlands this has proved to be very effective in controlling the ever increasing flooding of our rivers in springtime due to the climate change. Effectively we evicted people living (sometimes illegally)  between the lower summer dykes en the higher winter dykes along the rivers, and now allow the rivers to overflow the lower summer dykes. Not only does the flooding improve the quality of the pastures, the lands can still be used for grazing, and have proved to be a wonderful environment for nature to flourish.

And yes, looking at it from high up these pastures can look a little like monkey cheeks!

[robblok]

17 minutes ago, Bullie said:

I have to say that for once I completely concur with the proposed solution of introducing more Kaem Ling (monkey cheeks) along the waterways.

In the Netherlands this has proved to be very effective in controlling the ever increasing flooding of our rivers in springtime due to the climate change. Effectively we evicted people living (sometimes illegally)  between the lower summer dykes en the higher winter dykes along the rivers, and now allow the rivers to overflow the lower summer dykes. Not only does the flooding improve the quality of the pastures, the lands can still be used for grazing, and have proved to be a wonderful environment for nature to flourish.

And yes, looking at it from high up these pastures can look a little like monkey cheeks!

Come on you can't agree with the junta.. you have to disagree otherwise you get burned at the stake.

 

I agree too with this solution, however deforestation is a problem too (mono crops like palm trees is also deforestation). They should make sure the forest has its chance too.

[mtls2005]

No doubt "controlled flooding" is better than "uncontrolled flooding", especially when factoring in over 90 dead, and millions affected.

 

Most flood mitigation has been focused on Bangkok, while these floods in the south seem like what's referred to as 20/30/50 year-type floods.

 

Perhaps the Junta could spend some time/budget doing this going forward, instead of showing up in a boat proclaiming how great "monkey-cheeks" would have been?