Dams fail but still vital

Large irrigation dams fail to prevent floods and droughts and ensure water security for local farmers as impacts of climate change intensify data analysis on the performance of irrigation projects in the northeastern region show.

Ban Kaeng Sila village in Khon Kaen’s Ubon Ratana district is just one kilometre away from Ubolratana Dam, the largest irrigation dam in the Northeast with a storage capacity of 2.4 billion cubic metres of water, or nearly one million Olympic swimming pools.

But local farmers had to endure severe drought for three years, between 2018 to 2020, as the dam’s reservoir dried.

“We were suffering from a water shortage,” said Suchit Phetdong, a farmer in Ban Kaeng Sila village.

“Not just lacking water for growing crops, but we also had insufficient water for our own consumption.

“We have Ubolratana Dam nearby, but the dam had no water.

“Our village relies on irrigated water from the dam for both consumption and farming because this area has no groundwater, so when the dam did not release water, we were in big trouble.”

Mr Suchit said that due to the lack of irrigated water and severe drought during the past three years, many farmers had to stop growing rice for two years in a row, in 2019 and 2020, because there was no water for farming.

Most villagers, especially young people, left to find work in Bangkok to support their families.

“I think the dam can neither prevent flood nor drought,” Mr Suchit said.

“We have to rely solely on rain to farm, even though we are close to the dam.

“The dam cannot protect us from floods either.

“When there is intensive rain, the low-lying land is inundated.”

The difficulties of the people in Ban Kaeng Sila village struggling with a severe water shortage is just one example in the Northeast that indicates the inability of large-scale irrigation projects to prevent flood and drought.