Phuket's Lakes Are Disappearing

[Wellington]

In the Laguna area lakes have been filled; houses stand in swamps.

Last week in Kata the lake on the seaward side of the market has finally gone

Yesterday in Rawai I noticed the pretty lake opposite the entry to The Evason has begun to be earth filled.

Soon this will effect the water tables, wild life, and create drainage problems .

All for greed?

All for another twenty shop houses?

Is anybody taking any notice.

We will soon have no lakes left.

[Sir Burr]

There are no natural lakes on the island of Phuket. The lakes you see are all man-made from the time when tin-mining covered this island.

[Wellington]

There are no natural lakes on the island of Phuket. The lakes you see are all man-made from the time when tin-mining covered this island.

Well well!

I thought the tin mining was all in the Laguna area?

[Sir Burr]

No, not just Laguna. Kathu, Talang and Chalong plus many other locations.

The reason why the east coast doesn't have nice beaches because of all the mud lower than the high water mark is because of all the tin dredging that went on. All that mud on the east coast is there because of tin.

Up until 1940, Phuket was the worlds largest supplier of tin ore.

[phuketsub]

There are no natural lakes on the island of Phuket. The lakes you see are all man-made from the time when tin-mining covered this island.

That's true...and the companies that mined them under government concessions were supposed to fill them in when they finished, though few did.

The poster is correct in drawing attention to the utter lack of effort to protect the island's groundwater resources, however.

This is a very serious issue; far too many recharge areas are being covered over with impermeable materials (eg concrete).

When Diageo (Johnnie Walker pushers) provided a water supply the Kamala School after the tsunami they had to go about 3 kilometers inland then drill down something like 60 feet before they found clean water.

It's obscene and a complete waste of money that the government is paying 40 baht/cubic meter to buy 12,000 cubic meters of desalinated seawater (see Gazette story) when we get almost 3 meters of rain annually.

Equally ridiculous is the fact that we use water from tin mine ponds that collect all sorts of chemical contaminants and let the much cleaner rainwater be channeled straight into the into the sea.

These are issues the government here has never even considered, let alone addressed.

[Sir Burr]

These are issues the government here has never even considered, let alone addressed.

So, government funding for constructing new reservoirs in Talang and Chalong don't count then?

[LivinginKata]

I see lot's of talk about Phuket having a water shortage problem. Actually. Phuket has a water collection, storage, and distribution problem because no-one want to pay for the collection or storage. Many companies and individuals build large scale projects or luxury homes with little or no thought to building suitable storage tanks. Our last project, we built huge tanks under the entire building and collect enough rain water to last most of the dry season. This should be required in the planning permission stage...

[phukethovercraft]

Equally ridiculous is the fact that we use water from tin mine ponds that collect all sorts of chemical contaminants and let the much cleaner rainwater be channeled straight into the into the sea.

These are issues the government here has never even considered, let alone addressed.

Thai officials are not ridiculous, regarding the water shortage on Phuket. They are doing all they can to improve the situation.

Stop and think just how much water phuket is using in the high season?

How many tourists in high season/ dry season?

At the moment work is continuing on a new dame in Manic ( Thalang District) When work is completed the surrounding area will become a natural beauty for a lot of wildlife.

I hear the UK have water shortage in the summer months?

Anyway it should improve the water shortage in that area.