Wastewater flowing into the sea at Krabi

A waste water drain pipe has been found at Klong Muang Beach in Krabi. The local OrBorTor has already ordered its immediate removal.

Following a complaint about alleged waste waters being released into the sea at Klong Muang Beach, the Chief of Environmental Hygiene Unit of Krabi Provincial Public Health, Boonrit Karunmethee, and President of Nong Talay Administration Organization (OrBorTor), Sukkai Chan-On and their teams, visited the location earlier today (April 11).

They found that there was a 3 inch (8 cm) diameter PVC pipe connected from a public drain to release wastewater into the sea. The water released appears to be clear and doesn’t smell but still contains black debris. The OrBorTor Chief has already ordered OrBorTor officials to remove the pipe.

The team also visited 6 food shops near the beach. None of them had septic tank systems. However, they said that they solved the problem by gathering the wastewater and throw it away at an appropriate location after work each day.

A hotel in the area was also visited but they found that there no wastewater released from the property as the hotel uses a complete wastewater treatment system. However, another 2 laundry shops nearby were found to be releasing water without treatment. The team ordered them to find a way to treat any waste water before releasing to a public drain before May 30.

(Presumably they will pumping waste water without treatment into the waters off Krabi until then! – Ed)

“After we investigated the beach, we found that the pipe is not the wastewater drain from a specific business but a pipe from public drain. We have removed the pipe already and also warned the businesses in the area to treat the water from their properties before releasing it to the public drain urgently. We are planning to build a public water treatment tank to support the fast growing tourism in Krabi.”