A Bangkok senator who spearheaded a move to have water-pushing devices installed in Thon Buri's canals to push floodwater into the sea has urged the public to learn from the project.
Rosana Tositrakul said the devices were able to direct the water towards reservoirs and high capacity pumps downstream, which helped relieve the deluge threatening Rama II Road.
The senator together with residents of western Bangkok started working on the project along the direct seaward canals on the western side of Bangkok following a meeting with residents at the House of Representatives on Oct 26.
Since then, the devices have helped push 116 million cubic metres of floodwater out to sea.
She said a lack of sloping land had held back efforts to drain water from western Bangkok, as gravity normally helps draw the water out to sea. Debris and sandbars also blocked water flow.
Ms Rosana, who briefed the media on the project recently, credited the idea to His Majesty King, who suggested the project along with creating flood ways and reservoirs during the last big floods in 1994.
Ms Rosana said she had asked the state and private sectors to donate the devices to drive water into the Gulf of Thailand.
A total of 23 machines were donated by the Royal Irrigation Department and the Naval Dockyard Department, with homemade versions supplied by residents using swan-off oil drums with propellers inside.
Each device is made up of two connected, 200-litre containers with their bottoms sawn off.
The pilot device was attached under a motorboat moored to the Ekkachai-Bang Bon bridge forming "a tunnel" which helped speed water flow.
"Residents cannot rely on officials to do all the work; they have to contribute themselves," said Ms Rosana.
"I would like this case to serve as an example of how residents can come together and unite to achieve a mutual goal," she said.
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