Egat under attack over safety of dams

       The tourism industry has taken the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand to task for failing to warn people about water discharge from Srinakarin dam which caused flooding in Muang district on Saturday.
       Surin Chanpian, chairman of the Kanchanaburi tourism association, said the lack of warning from the power agency posed a serious cause for concern for residents of the quake-prone province.
       Srinakarin and Vajiralongkorn dams are situated on major faults - Sri Sawat and Three Pagodas - which remain active. There have been widespread fears of dams collapsing when earthquakes strike.
       Following Saturday's deluge, Egat issued an apology for the discharge which caused the River Kwai to break its banks and flood residential areas in Muang district.
       But Mr Surin said an apology would not save the lives of people living below the two dams if an earthquake hit and caused the dams to burst.
       Egat cited a need to increase hydroelectricity generation to offset a production shortfall caused by an abrupt stoppage of gas from Burma.
       "An advance warning should have been issued before the production began," Mr Surin said."This is not a natural disaster like an earthquake which is hard to predict.
       "It is clear that Egat does not have a plan and massive losses will be unavoidable.
       "State agencies have promised to install an early warning system but there is no progress."
       Pinant Chotirosseranee, president of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group,yesterday questioned whether the need to increase electricity production fully explained the flood.
       She believed an earthquake in the Indian Ocean off India's Andaman islands on Aug 11 had an impact on the dam.
       Mrs Pinant also rejected Egat's claim that the Srinakarin dam was strong enough to withstand a major earthquake.
       "If Egat was forced to open the floodgates to release water when all the machines were functioning, there was something wrong with the design," she said.
       "So its claim that the dam is designed to withstand an earthquake is very much doubted."
       Mrs Pinant called on Egat to reveal all information about the dams and their safety margins to allow local residents to assess risks and prepare for any emergency.