Battered Beaches Hua Hin Ok! Cha Am ..?

[Isabelle]

ENVIRONMENT: Battered beaches

Published on November 07, 2004

Regulatory authorities are kicking up a stink over the condition of our premier beaches and islands which they have found to be far below levels necessary to satisfy growing tourist arrivals.

------------

PARADISE BURIED: Sea, sun, sand, surf and . . . an unholy stink

None of Thailand's famed beaches actually qualify for a 5-star rating because they're still too filthy

For the fifth year in a row, students at Dulwich International College in Phuket have led a campaign to clean up the rubbish and debris that careless locals and tourists have left on beaches all over this world-renowned holiday island.

Twelfth grade student Daphne Hsieh, 18, said before she came to Phuket from Hong Kong to study, she pictured the island as a "paradise" of clean, white sandy beaches where she could enjoy herself. The reality was wrenchingly different.

The young student is not the only one to have had her dreams shattered. Many Phuket residents and visitors feel the same because the island has undergone decades of heavy tourism development with little thought put into waste management.

When Hsieh coordinated the clean-up campaign in September, some 300 students and volunteers collected as much as 5,000 kilogrammes of rubbish in one day from five northern beaches alone.

Sadly, Phuket is only one of many beautiful beaches in Thailand where nature is not respected. In fact, the lack of far-sighted tourism planning, let alone investment in proper waste management facilities, has spoiled most pristine beaches and coastal areas around the country.

When the Pollution Control Department surveyed Thailand's 14 major tourist beaches earlier this year it found that none of them fully met its stringent criteria on proper management that would otherwise help maintain these natural resources in superb condition.

In measuring the quality of beaches, the department relies on five major yardsticks - coastal water quality (coliform bacteria from sewage and sediment); volume of rubbish (in the water, on the beach and in nearby communities); quality of sand and sand dunes; coastal erosion and quality of coral reefs; and coastal land uses and problems caused by construction work.

The best beaches would have got the highest-possible five stars, but none qualified. Most of them are in the middle rank of four stars: Had Sai Kaew (Samed Island), Hua Hin, Chaweng (Samui Island), Karon (Phuket) and Had Yao (Phi Phi Islands).

Eight other most visited beaches found to have slightly lower quality are given three stars. These are Pattaya, Bang Saen (Chonburi), Cha-am (Petchburi), Wanapa (Rayong), Lamai (Samui), Patong (Phuket), Lo Dalum (Phi Phi) and Ton Sai (Phi Phi).

A big surprise is that Jomthien Beach was found to the worst among the 14 beaches, getting only two stars. Jomthien's low ranking is in contrast to the general public's belief that the beach is relatively cleaner than nearby Pattaya beach in terms of seawater quality.

Such a disclosure should disturb many local visitors who tell people they dare not risk swimming in Pattaya, but would prefer to drive to nearby Jomthien.

A Pollution Control Department official, who asked |not to be named, said Jomthien's situation has changed signifi-|cantly in recent years due to the large number of development schemes.

As for Pattaya - one of Thailand's earliest beaches developed for large-scale commercial tourism over two decades ago - it was once regarded as a notoriously polluted beach in terms of water quality.

This was largely due to hotels, resorts, restaurants and residential buildings simply releasing untreated wastewater into the sea. The water was so dirty that most swimmers developed skin rashes.

However, Pattaya is today ranked a cleaner beach than Jomthien, and continues to expand.

On the other hand, Jomthien was changed from a relatively quiet beach resort to a popular destination by the economic boom of the early 1990's. High-rise condominiums sprung up like mushrooms along its extended beachfront, catering mainly to Bangkokians wanting a weekend seaside home.

When the economic bubble burst in 1997, many of these projects were abandoned. But a few years later, new investors came onto the scene and converted |most of the unfinished high-|rise structures into hotels to cater to the unrelenting growth in tourism.

Wastewater management became a big issue for Jomthien because what were intended as week-end residential buildings became large-scale tourist facilities and commercial complexes, said Niti Kongkrut, manager of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) Pattaya office.

In principle, hotels are subject to stricter pollution control regulations and they're supposed to pay more for wastewater treatment than residential buildings.

In a bid to manage its wastewater properly, Pattaya city built its first central wastewater treatment plant nearly four years ago, requiring all major hotels to discharge wastewater for treatment at its plant.

To reduce treatment fees, some hotels installed their own primary water-treatment facilities.

While Pattaya now seems to have managed its wastewater properly, other tourist beaches appear to be copying its earlier missteps.

Senator Khunying Chodchoi Sophonpanich, who has received several complaints about worsening pollution and encroachment on beaches, said she had found management at several tourist destinations to be irresponsible.

For instance, the renowned Phi Phi Islands in southern Thailand have long been plagued by environmental problems from poor waste management to encroachment of national park land.

Chodchai said the Pollution Control Department had built a central garbage incinerator and sewage treatment plant at a cost of Bt500 million for Phi Phi, but the facilities are not operational because of electrical supply problems.

As for Phuket, the senator is not sure if the three-star rating given to some beaches like Patong can be trusted because she had heard that many major hotels operated their wastewater treatment facilities only when officials came to inspect their sites.

In her opinion, the bigger issue is the government's misguided policy on tourism development as there has not been sufficient advanced planning to ensure that each popular destination has adequate environmental management facilities.

Environmental engineer and scuba-diving instructor Pornchai Leelanuparp echoes her view, saying government planners see natural beauty as purely a means to gain quick tourist money.

For instance Maya Beach in Krabi, his favourite, has been spoiled after being heavily promoted as the site for Leonardo DiCaprio's film "The Beach".

"The way [TAT] promotes tourism is like they are killing one golden goose after another. Visit any beach heavily promoted as a tourist attraction and you'll find it becoming less and less attractive," he said.

For Pornchai, a more fundamental issue lies in consumerism in which massive non-biodegradable waste is the earth's burden. "We're sort of following what I call the 'instant' lifestyle. That's why our tourism industry is basically based on artificiality and instant returns."

Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The Nation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Kan Win]

Cha Am looking towards Hua Hin from the little Fishing Port Pier:-

Taken on 18th October 2004.

Kan Win Photo's

[Boon Mee]

Thanks for posting these photos, Kan Win. It's a danm shame folks don't pick up after themselves!

[sbk]

Living on a beach I can tell you that alot of the rubbish that you see isn't necessarily from locals dumping. I don't dump rubbish on my beach, and neither do most of my neighbors (we won't count the local fishermen who do since none of them actually live on the beach) yet every year, at certain seasons, massive amounts of rubbish wash up in front of my place every day. Alot of the rubbish I find comes directly from the large fishing trawlers (most of whom fish illegally off the reef, but that is another story); big light bulbs (squid boats), rubber gloves (easier on their hands when cleaning the nets), instant coffee mix packets, sugar packets, instant noodle bags etc etc. Also, alot of the rubbish we get gets washed out of the rivers from the mainland, we often find water bottles with Surat Thani company names on them. We also used to get (not so much anymore) leftover rubber forms from flip flop makers, the actual cutout of the shoe was clearly seen.

It would be easy to blame tourism and development for this rubbish but to be honest, as Koh Phangan has developed, more bungalow owners are cleaning the beaches in front of their places, resulting in far less rubbish washing up the next time around.

What's the pity is that fishing boats can't be educated as to their garbage, but then, I guess, since they are already fishing illegaly, they wouldn't worry too much about their rubbish. A Canadian friend of mine told me eastern coastal Canada has the same problem, fishing boats (mostly Europeans btw) dumping their rubbish overboard. In the Carribbean the large cruise ships are infamous for doing the same. I have heard that the US Coast Guard now follows them out to intl waters to catch them at it, as they had been waiting to leave US waters to dump.

Unfortunately, human laziness and greed are everywhere, not just Thailand.

[sua yai]

Good to see Hua Hin up there, but I must say I'm surprised. I walk the beach most mornings to Kao Takieb and am generally disappointed with the frontages of the big hotels. OK, it's relatively early in the morning and cleaning up processes are under way.

Further along, between Royal Princess Condo and The Hyatt are a number of developments. The builders are simply chucking rocks and rubbish onto the beach. Further along to Kao Takieb, the situation is even worse. At high tide, you take your feet and legs on a lottery journey through the rubble.

Swimming there? I prefer Sai Noi beach further south.

Don't get me wrong. Without the beach, HH is nothing. However, it's it's in the top echelons, I'm just glad I've not been to other beaches around Thailand lately.

Oh, I forgot to mention the horses. ###### near broke my ankle in some chewed up sand made by a stampede of these critters. Get rid of them!!

[Kan Win]

I'm just glad I've not been to other beaches around Thailand lately.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have. Other Beaches

Two week ago

and then:-

and then over here, just for you:-

Waste not, want not.

Last one:-

My Webpage Thailand Unseen

Kan Win

P.S. Don’t knock it, if you haven’t tried it… See Thailand for yourself.

[sua yai]

Kan Win,

Appreciate your reply. My post was on the spur of the moment, as I was surprised to HH right up there.

You're quite right there are a lot of great beaches in Thailand. Not least, Baing Niang, 70 kms north of the bridge to Phuket. Spent 2 weeks down there recently with a friend.

BTW, your images didn't come out on my computer, probably due to my dreadful connection.

[Kan Win]

Kan Win,

Appreciate your reply. My post was on the spur of the moment, as I was surprised to HH right up there.

You're quite right there are a lot of great beaches in Thailand. Not least, Baing Niang, 70 kms north of the bridge to Phuket. Spent 2 weeks down there recently with a friend.

BTW, your images didn't come out on my computer, probably due to my dreadful connection.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What. No See ??????

Try this:-

Kan Win Photo's

Hope this works for you. If not PM me.

Your's as always

Kan Win