Landscape Architecture Concept for Mitigate Flooding of Nong Jom Sub-district Municipality, Sansai, Chiangmai.

Abstract

Thailand has faced the problem of floods for many years and different damages were left in different areas based on their features. Nong Jom, sub-district municipality in the lower part of Sansai district in Chiangmai province, is a semi-urban and rural community that repeatedly floods
causing damages in economics, society and environment. The natural factors that caused the problem were that the physical geographic feature was floodplain and heavy rain for several days caused accumulated rain in the area. Moreover, the soil was a set of deep clay causing bad to
relatively low drainage and low rate of ground water seepage. For human factor, community expansion and constructions have blocked drainage system of the natural streams as a result the public drain pipes could not support drainage from the area during maximum quantity of accumulated water in the area. Therefore, concept of landscape architectural planning for the area development was considered based on the environment, aiming for the least environment impact; and ideas and modern water management techniques were taken into account. Instead of draining water out of the area only, water was managed to mitigate flood conditions such as water retention by using detention ponds, the use of green areas for water retention and underground infiltration by designing a plan aiming to maintain the natural river network and water cycle. This article presents the concept of water management in Nong Jom sub-district municipality relevant to the land use for not only relieving floods but also increasing green areas in the community, making the project valuable and increasing quality of life in the community.