Chao Praya River

After experiencing horrific floods in 2011, improvements in flood management are the highest priority in the water resources planning arena for the Chao Praya basin. NHI and the Thai Department of Water Resources are set to examine the potential for enhancing flood control in the Chao Praya through reoperation of Bhumibol and Sirikit reservoirs in conjunction with the groundwater system underlying the command areas for the irrigation projects that are supplied by those reservoirs, and through reconnecting the river to its floodplain for transient floodplain storage. This strategy could capture a larger fraction of the peak flow events generated by the monsoon while also buffering the effects of drought periods.