Just One-Fifth Of Wastewater In Thailand Is Being Treated

[puipuitom]

And then the Thais are astonished there is aluminium pollution in their rice, probably coming out of polluted irrigation water over the fields, with results already several shipments of rice vermicelli are rejected by the EU food authorities.

Till now only investigated in Finland. Just wait, and all their rice will fall under a ban.

Of course the Italian and Spanish rice farmers, good for 80% of the EU rice consumption, will NOT cry for their competition, banned for the coming ? ? 25 years ??

1) 20/12/2010 2010.CGW border rejection FINLAND from THAILAND high content of aluminium (180 mg/kg - ppm) in rice noodle from Thailand

2) 18/04/2011

2011.AWJ

border rejection FINLAND high content of aluminium (67 mg/kg dry matter) in rice noodles from Thailand

3) 01 Nov 2011 2011.CFQ – A border

rejection

notification was sent by

Finland

concerning high content of

aluminium

(30 mg/kg - ppm) in

rice vermicelli

from

Thailand

.

...

[geriatrickid]

The remaining 4/5 ths of the untreated effluent gets pumped directly

into Patong Bay.

Had I written that, I'd have been called a Super Troll

I am always amazed at the people frolicking in the water. I don't think they have the slightest clue what they are splashing about in.

[dcutman]

I would bet money, In a poll with the Thai people. Pollution and waste water management would not even be on a top 20 list of important issues facing this country.

Tablet computers for first graders, high speed trains to Chaing Mai, how to get 2 trillion baht in tourist dollars, red,yellow, blue and black shirts, and what politician is sueing the other for slander, is far more important than rivers and oceans full of dead or poisond fish, clear cutting of every tree in sight, looking in any direction and not seeing trash on the ground and water you can actually feel safe to brush your teeth with.

Scarry, but true.

[maidu]

Seafood dinner anyone?

I stopped eating shellfish decades ago. In the past several years, I've been eating less fish, down to almost none. Basically, where is there clean water, anywhere in the vicinity of Thailand, for fish to thrive?

In Arcata California, and probably other locales, they're successfully treating municipal effluent by letting it get treated naturally (no added chemicals) in estuaries. However, at a place like that, in northern California, the population is more environmentally aware, and less likely to use bunches of chemicals each day, like the average Thai would use without a 2nd thought. It's even more pronounced with farmers. I just threw away half a bunch of bananas. They tasted good, but I felt crappy each time after eating one or two. Maybe it was some other food, but it's hard to tell nowadays, because most food is sugar-laden, MSG-laden, pesticide/herbicide-infused, or who knows what else?

[sunshine51]

The remaining 4/5 ths of the untreated effluent gets pumped directly

into Patong Bay.

Had I written that, I'd have been called a Super Troll

I am always amazed at the people frolicking in the water. I don't think they have the slightest clue what they are splashing about in.

I first saw Patong Bay/Beach back in 1973 on an R & R visit to Phuket enroute to

Singapore. The water was so clear. Lil fish used to come up and nibble on your

fingers & toes....larger fish would take larger nips (Ouch!)....then....well just

have a look at what the place is today. All that muck has gotta go somewhere

don't it?! Progress? Hmmmmmmm.....

[cdnski12]

A good report ESTRADA! My TGfd regularly eats dancing krung (shrimp) when we go to the beaches near Pattaya. She gets sick about 35% of the time. I won't touch it. Her extended family annually pumps out their various farm irrigation ponds, which flow into a nearby river in Issan. Then they jump into the muck and catch fish and frogs. I set up the camp and start the campfires. I even eat the cooked catch. All the local farms are on septic and the fields rannually flood. Fish migrate into the ponds from the adjacent river when it floods. Needless to say, these ponds are full of contaminated water. No one ever gets sick from eating these fish, at least not in the past 5 years, when I've been there. It's a Total Thai Party c/w sound system, dancing, camping, cooking & eating. The 6" turbine irrigation pumps really move water & the odd fish. It's fun to watch the family members, when they come across the odd "Fish Snake", a Nhu Saam Liam or a small Cobra. A lot of fun & excitement. The kids go wild.

[Estrada]

there is one company trying to make a difference offering free investment to large factories to treat the waste water as well as recycle the wastewater to be re-used again, they do the whole thing turnkey and make the investment as well. Reducing costs as well as saving the Environment for large factories. This article should also mention that there are companies like that trying to make a difference, company is called Environmental Care Management. http://www.ecm.co.th they are actively looking to invest in factories to recycle their waste water

I have installed over 3000 water recycling systems worldwide. The problem with Thailand was that factories in Bangkok got their water free from bore holes, which caused Bangkok to sink by up to 30cm per year. I proposed the solution to a friend who was Governor of Bangkok in the late '90s, namely the introduction of a charge for artesian water and only in 1996 did the land subsidence slow down otherwise the floods would have flooded the whole of Bangkok a lot sooner than recently. The droughts which affected the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estates at least jerked some of the mainly foreign Companies to install recycling plants. However, there is a lot of opposition to recycling due to corruption. For instance I installed detergent recovery and recycling systems but the purchasing managers caused a of problems after seeing their back handers from the chemical suppliers reduced by 80%. Similarly I was threatened by gun after saving one company B24 Million/year in water, waste water charges because the union operated a scam whereby the Company had to pay the mafia to tanker away waste milk products. I found a pig farmer to buy the waste milk products and reduced the wastage in the production cycle by correcting and optomisiing their production processes. Nevertheless the Thai Company eventually bowed down to their Thai Unions and the Australian JV was dissolved so that they could operate as a purely Thai Company. The Dairy Company I describe was the first and largest in Thailand and due to the union opposition to saving money by recovery and recycling affecting their benefits, has become one of the smallest.

In 1994 strict control of Pollution from Factories was already proposed and online electronic monitors were being installed at factories along the Chaophraya and the polluters should have paid the price. However, I went to the WEFTEC exhibition in Miami with the Head of the Harbour Department who was charged with policing the discharges from factories along the river within his jurisdiction only to discover that none of Government Buildings had waste treament plants including the Harbour Department. So it was quite impossible for him to prosecute the factory owners without exposing the fact that all their buildings discharges were totally untreated.

The current proposal for monitoring is most likely yet another way of creating more income for the proposers, I doubt whether any pollution laws will be enforced or factories fined (unless foreign owned). My sympathies to the valiant Companies such as EMS who are soldiering on trying to reduce pollution in Thailand.