Kiew Lom Dam: small but cute dam in Lampang

Let me remind you that in Thailand two types of objects are always free to visit: mangrove forests and dams. Therefore, I try not to miss either one or the other, even if they are not particularly large.

Kiew Lom Dam is located in the Thai province of Lampang.

Kiew Lom Dam coordinates: go to map.

This dam does not generate electricity. It is used to balance water flow throughout the year.

Water is also taken from here for water supply purposes.

The Kiew Lom Dam is small. This may be the smallest dam I have seen in Thailand. The dam has a height of 26.50 meters from the original groundwater level, a length of 135 meters, and a width of 5.35 meters. The maximum water storage capacity is 112 million cubic meters and the minimum water storage capacity is 6 million cubic meters.

The figure of 112 million cubic meters seems incomprehensible to the mind. To understand how much water this is, imagine a cube, each side of which is 480 meters long. This cube will contain approximately 110 million cubic meters.

If you liked playing with mathematics and imagination, then you can continue – 6 million cubic meters (the minimum volume of water storage) is a cube with a length of each side of 180 meters.

Yes, the volume of water varies by 112/6≈19 times, and the length of the face of a cube varies by 480/110≈4.4 times – this is a feature of cubic quantities.

It fascinates me how quickly the cubic value increases. For example, how many cubic meters of water are in a cube whose edge is only 100 meters long? This cube contains 100^3 = 1,000,000 (one million) cubic meters of water!

How many buckets of water are there in a tank measuring 1.5×1.5×2 meters? Not a very large tank – all dimensions are comparable to the size of the human body.

The volume of such a tank is 1.5*1.5*2=4.5 m³. One cubic meter contains 1000 liters of water, that is, it turns out that there are 4500 liters in such a tank. One bucket contains 10 liters of water, so a tank measuring 1.5×1.5×2 meters can hold 450 buckets of water!

It would seem like a very small tank, but at the same time it holds a mind-boggling number of buckets of water.

I got distracted – okay, let's stop being nostalgic about school math lessons and get back to the dams.

There are people who like industrial facilities; there is even such a concept as “industrial tourism”. I am one of those people who are fascinated by huge man-made structures. When I see huge objects whose dimensions are measured in kilometers (for example, Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam 2.5 in length) or skyscrapers reaching almost into the clouds, something sweetly swells inside me and I feel endless pride in humanity.

See also: Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam – the longest dam in Thailand (2.5 km)

I am amazed by modern high-quality multi-lane roads that stretch for tens and hundreds of kilometers. I am amazed by engines that can operate without a single breakdown, moving vehicles for tens and even hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

When I think about all these engineers who invented and developed all this, all these engines, construction technologies, wireless data transmission technologies and so on, I think it is unfair that engineers are not given the Nobel Prize.

And all these brilliant people are somewhere among us. And this is such a striking contrast compared to other people who, without outside help, cannot figure out, for example, the buttons on a washing machine, or cannot figure out the program even with detailed instructions on the Internet, or who watch TikTok/YouTube for several hours at a time day… And often these are the same people…

I got distracted again. I think you’ve already guessed that I don’t have much to tell you about this dam. The information board talks about boat tours and rafting, and describes how to get to the relevant offices – but all the information is in Thai, so I didn’t fully understand it. Also mentioned are hotels, an island, fish farms in cages in the water, and a cafeteria.

The views here are very picturesque. Up the river there is Kew Lom Lake. I think boat tours are really interesting. We were passing through this dam (for that day, in addition to the dam, we had planned to visit two attractions, as well as move to another province), so we did not find out about boat tours.

It's some kind of bridge – I'm not sure what it's for or what it's called. If the water is not too high, then you can walk along this structure to the opposite bank.

The walls of the river channel are fortified.

There is a cafeteria next to the dam, on the opposite side of the gazebos. You can get there via a road that runs along a dam. You can also get there by a bridge that runs over the water.

Next to the dam, on the hill, construction is currently underway – perhaps there will be some other tourist site there.

On the territory of the dam there are several gazebos with flowers growing among them. Overall, the atmosphere is very calm and peaceful.

There is ample parking and restrooms next to the gazebos.

By transport you can go up to the dam itself – there is also a small parking lot there.

View of the gazebos from the opposite bank.

Video Kiew Lom Dam

Several short videos of Kiew Lom Dam.

View of the river, bridge and dam.

Bridge nearby.

View of the dam from the bridge.

Dam surroundings.

Video from the dam – I'm trying to show that on one side there is emptiness, there is nothing but a shallow river; and on the other side the water is very high.

Conclusion

Kiew Lom Dam is a pleasant place to rest in the middle of the journey. In my opinion, it’s not worth going here specifically just to see the dam. But if you are interested in boating and want to explore the area, then I think this place will provide you with pleasant mountain views.