Royal Irrigation Department (RID) of Thailand directly assigned AIT and Thammasat University to conduct a study of Tha Chin river basin management as part of the Royally Initiated Projects under His Majesty the King of Thailand.
A memorandum of understanding was signed on 11 February 2007 by Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology, on behalf of Prof. Said Irandoust, AIT President, and Mr. Samart Chokanapitak, Director General of RID. The signing was witnessed by H.E. Dr. Thira Sutabutra, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperation, Thailand. The study is expected to provide appropriate measures to alleviate the flood problem, taking into consideration the legal, socio-economic, institutional and environment aspects. Dr. Sutat Weesakul from the water engineering management field of study will serve as the Principal Investigator from AIT in this Baht 20-million project. The great flood in 2006 caused a tremendous damage in Chao Phraya and Tha Chin river basin. The downstream area in Tha Chin is subject to a long flood duration approximately 3 to 4 months and it is the last area that flood level will be reduced. The proposed river cut-off which have been successfully
implemented at Chao Phrya river will be an alternative for one of the main measures. The developed AIT-river Network mathematical model will be used as an effective tool to quantify the solution. The concept for river improvement and flood plain management will then be proposed and detail study will be carried out as priority ones.