Royal Initiatives:

As the Khwae Noi River lower basin area of 32,000 hectares (200,000 rai) constitutes the agricultural land that is suffered from annual flooding and water shortage, His Majesty the King graciously expressed his concern on December 4, 1995, as quoted:

“…As for Phitsanulok, there is another side-flow. The Khwae Noi…On this river, there are no projects yet. It should be done in order to retain the water that comes from Chat Trakan District. This project could draw some protests from some quarters on why such dams should be constructed and on what benefit would be derived from them. Well, we have already witnessed the usefulness of these two dams (the two big dams). Without these two dams, here, the central plains would have suffered more severe floods. The floods would not have been this limited but the whole area would have been flooded.”

Consequently, the Royal-initiated Khwae Noi Dam Project was established.

Objectives:

Areas of Implementation:

Wat Bot District, Phisanulok Province

Responsible Agencies:

The Royal Irrigation Department, the Phitsanulok Province, the Royal Thai Army, the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, and the Land Development Department

Years of Implementation:

5 years, between 2003-2007

Benefits:

1. The dam is intended to store water for multipurpose uses. It has a total storage capacity of 769 million cubic metres of water.
2. It can benefit agricultural land covering about 24,800 hectares (155,000 rai) in the Irrigation Project zone in Phitsanulok Province and about 40,000 hectares (250,000 rai) in the Chao Phraya Yai Irrigation Project zone, around the southern part of Khwae Noi Dam, particularly in the dry season.
3. The people living in the project area can depend their lives on a water supply of 47 million cubic metres yearly.
4. The persistent trouble of the villagers has been successfully mitigated. The flood and drought dilemmas regularly disturbing the residents of Phitsanulok Province will be completely eradicated which is also estimated to help reduce the cost of damage from flood amounted to 25.27 million Thai Baht per year.
5. The dam is the source for raising freshwater fish which is expected to induce an economic income of 12 million Thai Baht per year.
6. The dam also serves as a recreation and tourist site.
7. The building of Phayaman Replenishing Dike with its water delivery and drainage system can help in producing electricity for use within the areas once a power-generating plant is established.