Did the Construction of the Bhumibol Dam Cause a Dramatic Reduction in Sediment Supply to the Chao Phraya River?

Namsai, Matharit; Charoenlerkthawin, Warit; Sirapojanakul, Supakorn; Burnett, William C.; Bidorn, Butsawan

doi:10.3390/w13030386

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Did the Construction of the Bhumibol Dam Cause a Dramatic Reduction in Sediment Supply to the Chao Phraya River?

Matharit Namsai

^1,2,

Warit Charoenlerkthawin

^1,3,

Supakorn Sirapojanakul

⁴,

William C. Burnett

⁵ and

Butsawan Bidorn

^1,3,*

Department of Water Resources Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

The Royal Irrigation Department, Bangkok 10300, Thailand

WISE Research Unit, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

⁴

Department of Civil Engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, Pathumthani 12110, Thailand

⁵

Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: María Luz Rodríguez-Blanco

Water 2021, 13(3), 386; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13030386

Received: 30 November 2020 / Revised: 28 January 2021 / Accepted: 29 January 2021 / Published: 2 February 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Assessment of Suspended Sediment Transport at Catchment Scale)

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Abstract

The Bhumibol Dam on Ping River, Thailand, was constructed in 1964 to provide water for irrigation, hydroelectric power generation, flood mitigation, fisheries, and saltwater intrusion control to the Great Chao Phraya River basin. Many studies, carried out near the basin outlet, have suggested that the dam impounds significant sediment, resulting in shoreline retreat of the Chao Phraya Delta. In this study, the impact of damming on the sediment regime is analyzed through the sediment variation along the Ping River. The results show that the Ping River drains a mountainous region, with sediment mainly transported in suspension in the upper and middle reaches. By contrast, sediment is mostly transported as bedload in the lower basin. Variation of long-term total sediment flux data suggests that, while the Bhumibol Dam does effectively trap sediment, there was only a 5% reduction in sediment supply to the Chao Phraya River system because of sediment additions downstream. View Full-Text

Keywords: riverine sediment processes; sediment load; river survey; human activity; bedload

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MDPI and ACS Style

Namsai, M.; Charoenlerkthawin, W.; Sirapojanakul, S.; Burnett, W.C.; Bidorn, B. Did the Construction of the Bhumibol Dam Cause a Dramatic Reduction in Sediment Supply to the Chao Phraya River? Water 2021, 13, 386. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13030386

AMA Style

Namsai M, Charoenlerkthawin W, Sirapojanakul S, Burnett WC, Bidorn B. Did the Construction of the Bhumibol Dam Cause a Dramatic Reduction in Sediment Supply to the Chao Phraya River? Water. 2021; 13(3):386. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13030386

Chicago/Turabian Style

Namsai, Matharit, Warit Charoenlerkthawin, Supakorn Sirapojanakul, William C. Burnett, and Butsawan Bidorn. 2021. "Did the Construction of the Bhumibol Dam Cause a Dramatic Reduction in Sediment Supply to the Chao Phraya River?" Water 13, no. 3: 386. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13030386

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Did the Construction of the Bhumibol Dam Cause a Dramatic Reduction in Sediment Supply to the Chao Phraya River?

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