Patong & Krabi wastewater ‘being tackled’

Local administration officials in Phuket and Krabi provinces are assuring people that they are trying to tackle the pollution problems in the sea at Ao Nang beach of Krabi and the sea at Tri Trang beach in Patong.

Broken waste water treatment facilities are being blamed for the flow of untreated effluent from households and tourism-related establishments into the sea of both provinces which are popular destinations for both Thai and foreign tourists.

Phuket Governor Norapat Plodthong visits the affected area along the southern end of Patong Beach yesterday

Patong Mayor Chalermlak Kepsap, says that a new waste water treatment facility was under construction on the same location of the old one because the municipal could not find a new location for the facility.

Since part of the new facility was being built on the plot used as treatment ponds, it was inevitable that waste water which was already treated was released into the klong and eventually into the sea at Tri Trang beach, Patong.

She however said that officials had been sent to check whether the pollution was caused by effluent discharged from the treatment facility of from somewhere else.

A long stretch of the Tri Trang beach has been blackened with the effluent which also emitted foul smell, driving away many tourists and the municipal office receiving complaints from locals at the north end of Patong Beach.

Photo: Thai PBS

Meanwhile, Tossaporn Chotechuang, director of the environment unit of the Krabi’s Office of Natural Resources and Environment, said over the weekend that the office had sought permission from the Marine Department to build a new waste water treatment facility with 6.9 million baht budget approved by the Krabi provincial administration, but a permission has yet to be issued by the Marine Department.

He disclosed that two treatment tanks of the waste water treatment facility at Klong Chak which was operated by the Ao Nang Tambon Administration Organisation had broken down, causing untreated waste water to flow into the klong and eventually into the sea at Ao Nang beach.