Contamination in and around Koh Samet causing concern

[webfact]

KOH SAMET
Contamination in and around Koh Samet causing concern
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation

KOH SAMET: -- The second test of the seawater around Koh Samet, which was hit by the oil spill, shows the level of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) as being 200 times over the accepted standard, an informed source said yesterday.

Mercury levels remain high and the contamination has spread to other parts of the island.

According to the source, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) collected seawater samples last Thursday to study the level of contamination and results show that the level of TPH is 200 times higher than the accepted standard of 0.5 microgram per litre.

Meanwhile, the level of mercury was measured at about two to four times higher than the standard of 0.1 microgram per litre and has been detected in other areas surrounding Koh Samet. Samples collected on August 3 also showed an excessive level of mercury, the PCD revealed on Tuesday. The level of mercury at Ao Phrao on the west of the island and Ao Tub Tim on the east were recorded at 2.9mg per litre and 0.25mg per litre respectively.

The results of another test conducted by the Marine and Coastal Resources Department and released on Tuesday showed that the concentration of TPH in Ao Noi Na was 1.05mg per litre, which exceeds accepted standards of 0.5mg per litre. The tests were conducted on samples collected between August 4 and 6.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Vichet Kasemthongsri yesterday instructed PCD officials to collect further samples of seawater from around the island for testing. He expects to release the test results today.


-- The Nation 2013-08-17

[wellred]

Is this a case of letting the sea clean itself out? What a disaster.

[NongKhaiKid]

When the spill first happened there was the usual stampede of officials denying there was a problem and pulling that stupid seafood eating stunt. They were claiming no problems before really exhaustive tests could have been made and now the truth is coming out but how long will they keep it up ?

I note to that PTT have gone very quiet.

[RickBradford]

Perhaps the Government could reassure the public once more about the sea's cleanliness, this time by holding an underwater cabinet meeting in the immediate area.

[noitom]

PTT Chemical says they did everything right - Yet no one, none of the big shot engineers over there are mentioned as offering any assistance on this. Not even as a goodwill gesture. Maybe the Thai pollution people doing the testing don't want them around for fear of polluting the real results.

[geriatrickid]

A proper comparison requires there to be a base level against which to compare the results of the recent assays.

Two questions need to be answered:

1. Was there a high level of contamination prior to the oil spill?

2. Mercury is not typically associated with oil spills of this nature. The dispersants declared do not have soluble mercury. This begs the question as to what the mercury level was prior to the spill? My gut feeling is that the mercury was in high levels long before the oil spill, and that the issue is only now becoming public. Thailand has had a very bad reputation for its dumping of untreated effluent into the ocean. I would not be surprised if the mercury was already present, along with other heavy metals.

I am in no way excusing the PTT, nor brushing off the obvious environmental damage. However, it does indicate that Thailand has a very serious problem and its local fishery is contaminated with heavy metal. The ramifications of the testing could seriously damage Thailand's fish processing and export market.

[jalansanitwong]

Thais have been dumping chemicals and other pollutants in the gulf for many years . Tourists were getting eye and ear infections around Pattaya back in the 1990's when i first came to LOS.

I wouldn't swim in the sea in Thailand if you paid me. Pools are good enough in Asia.

When was the last time they did a test of the water off Koh Samet?? .....never?

The water around Pattaya,Rayong and Samet has always been polluted.

They finally get around to testing the water and OH DEAR thats a high reading !

JEEEEEESUS.

[impulse]

Something is wrong with their math:

Mercury levels were 2.5 mg/ liter. That's 2.5 parts per million, or 2,500 parts per billion

Hydrocarbon levels were "100 times higher than 0.5 micrograms/liter". That's 50 parts per billion.

They're initially claiming the mercury level is 50 x higher than the hydrocarbon level.

Hardly what you'd expect after an oil spill.

Later in the article, they express hydrocarbon levels in parts per million, and even that indicates the mercury is 1/20 the level of the hydrocarbons and that makes no sense so soon after an oil spill (if that was the source of the mercury). They bounce back and forth between mg (milligrams) and micrograms a couple of times.

Crude oil can have mercury in it depending on what was laid down with the organic matter millions of year ago that became oil, and what's in the pores of the rock it passed through on its way to the reservoirs underground that trapped it. The refinery purchasing the oil will know the exact number because they have to be ready to handle it. It will usually be in the parts per billion range, but I have no knowledge of the imported oil from that tanker full.

The numbers in the article are also useless unless they publish before and after numbers at the given location. Comparing the numbers from a beach on the other side of the island isn't meaningful because the "despoiled" beach was on the side most exposed to the mainland industrial areas. You would expect it to have higher pollution levels even without the spill.

It would also be informative to publish the oil assay describing all the constituents of the oil on that tanker. I'm not holding my breath.

Edited August 17, 2013 by impulse

[jacko45k]

When the spill first happened there was the usual stampede of officials denying there was a problem and pulling that stupid seafood eating stunt. They were claiming no problems before really exhaustive tests could have been made and now the truth is coming out but how long will they keep it up ?

I note to that PTT have gone very quiet.

Yes I thought I saw a recent report that pollution levels were OK.

[maddermax]

I fly a microlight and about 10 days ago, late morning, was on the way down to Koh Chang with a friend. We passed over Koh Samet and did not see any oil on the beaches. However, shortly afterwards we noted several long slicks on the surface with no spraying vessels anywhere in sight. Why not? I would have thought that they would have as many capable vessels out there as possible to clean it up as quickly as possible. Please don't say "but this is Thailand"!

[asdecas]

Well, I'm no expert in oil contamination, pollutants or chemistry, I simply have decades of experience observing the repeated failure of officials in Thailand, often going right to the top, to do their duty. Cover-ups are of course part of the culture.

I would say that Samet is largely ruined as a holiday island for the next few years, and I certainly would not swim anywhere nearby.

[jamhar]

I was at Phrao a couple days ago. They still will not let me near the beach area. The signs still says "Restricted Access". So I went back to the National Park view points near Phrao.

During the cleanup phase, you could see the oil in the water from the top of the cliffs. And there was a strong odor of petrol. Now there's no visible signs of oil from that distance, but from the middle viewpoint, you could still smell a mild trace of petroleum.

So yes, more work needs to be done.

And as i stated before, I witnessed a fisheries taking samples from Ao VongDuen. So thats an indication that data was being collected at at least one additional point.

Lastly Again as I stated before, TubTim is where they load and unload material from a barge. I'm guessing thats where they unload gravel, sand, aggregate and cement for the road they are building.here on the island. During the heavy oil spill cleanup period, I saw a lot of activity around Tubtim, so i'm guessing they used the barge access to remove the contaminated material. Phrao to tumtim would be an easy trip vs having to truck the contaminated material on the mainroad, thru the villiage to the main pier.

The contamination at Tubtim could have come from an number of activities, but the similarity of the contamination on Phrao and Tubtim would suggest a similar contaminant. Pointing to the oil spill, or cleanup from the oil spill. That would account for the similar types of contamination on 2 different sides of the island.

Just thinking out loud.

[Longbow212]

This whole event really saddens me. Samet is a beautiful island and a favourite getaway from Bangkok for me. Now it is ruined and there seems to be far less than decisive and efficient action on cleaning it up. Thailand does not realise what it has and perhaps won't until it is too late.

[ABCer]

Well, high level of contamination. So what? ... It was stated that the compensation from PTTGC is not forthcoming.

No International help was called for to clean up.

No international experts were allowed to measure the size of this last spill.

Never mentioned any previous spills.

Any official figures of levels of contamination in previous years? Never seen or heard about this.

Nothing to compare with - nothing to conclude. At least against PTTGC.

How long since the Ministry for ? Pollution Control Department ? was created? What did it do before the last spill?

Now the high level of contamination is the fault of foreign tourists high numbers.

But if the campaign for attracting 'high quality tourists' works out - they are unlikely to visit any dump like Koh Samed.

Local fishermen keep selling their daily catch.

Business as usual. TIT.

To all fighters against the 'Thai bashers': TIT is an expression appearing in every second post here on TV. Usually I take it with due humor.

But I have personally heard it in Court from a Judge. Meaning that Law is one thing, Thai reality is another thing. The comparison to 'Political Science' excuse is vivid.

[sandrabbit]

A proper comparison requires there to be a base level against which to compare the results of the recent assays.

Two questions need to be answered:

1. Was there a high level of contamination prior to the oil spill?

2. Mercury is not typically associated with oil spills of this nature. The dispersants declared do not have soluble mercury. This begs the question as to what the mercury level was prior to the spill? My gut feeling is that the mercury was in high levels long before the oil spill, and that the issue is only now becoming public. Thailand has had a very bad reputation for its dumping of untreated effluent into the ocean. I would not be surprised if the mercury was already present, along with other heavy metals.

I am in no way excusing the PTT, nor brushing off the obvious environmental damage. However, it does indicate that Thailand has a very serious problem and its local fishery is contaminated with heavy metal. The ramifications of the testing could seriously damage Thailand's fish processing and export market.

I agree completely, I live nearby at Mae Rhumphung beach and we always knew there was a problem with previous pollutants. We were lucky that the oil slick went past and hit Samet as there wouldn't have been anywhere near the fuss if it had hit this beach. We are seeing a lot of foam now from the 'detergents' used in the clean up process being washed ashore. I heard someone mention last night that they had seen oil washed up here but I think they've mistaken the foam for oil, will have a walk down the beach when it gets cooler and take some pics to show you what the results have been here. One thing though, it doesn't seem to stop the Thai's coming down from Chiang Mai etc from digging up the shellfish to eat while on holiday.

[paulward75]

Samet is fine!

You don't drink the fuxxing sea water when you go swimming do you!

And even then you'd have to drink several thousand litres to have an effect.

Less tourists going there is probably a good thing. It used to be lovely and quiet.

Every ocean in the world are polluted to some level. In Europe there's all sorts of crap in the sea.

So to all the idiots that think they are going to die from swimming near Samet just shut up and stay away!

[Soutpeel]

A proper comparison requires there to be a base level against which to compare the results of the recent assays.

Two questions need to be answered:

1. Was there a high level of contamination prior to the oil spill?

2. Mercury is not typically associated with oil spills of this nature. The dispersants declared do not have soluble mercury. This begs the question as to what the mercury level was prior to the spill? My gut feeling is that the mercury was in high levels long before the oil spill, and that the issue is only now becoming public. Thailand has had a very bad reputation for its dumping of untreated effluent into the ocean. I would not be surprised if the mercury was already present, along with other heavy metals.

I am in no way excusing the PTT, nor brushing off the obvious environmental damage. However, it does indicate that Thailand has a very serious problem and its local fishery is contaminated with heavy metal. The ramifications of the testing could seriously damage Thailand's fish processing and export market.

Mercury is common in oil and gas produced produced in the SEA region and in fact the gulf of Thailand has some of the highest levels of "sub-sea" mercury in the world, so could the oil spilled be high in mercury ?...yes dependent on where it was produced, could the "naturally occurring" levels of mercury in the gulf of thailand be high, ie mercury is migrating up from sub-sea ?...yes

therefore one suspects its nothing to do with dispersants used or even the dumping of effluent in the ocean from shore, the levels could be "naturally high" and have been for thousands of years....

[Thai at Heart]

A proper comparison requires there to be a base level against which to compare the results of the recent assays.

Two questions need to be answered:

1. Was there a high level of contamination prior to the oil spill?

2. Mercury is not typically associated with oil spills of this nature. The dispersants declared do not have soluble mercury. This begs the question as to what the mercury level was prior to the spill? My gut feeling is that the mercury was in high levels long before the oil spill, and that the issue is only now becoming public. Thailand has had a very bad reputation for its dumping of untreated effluent into the ocean. I would not be surprised if the mercury was already present, along with other heavy metals.

I am in no way excusing the PTT, nor brushing off the obvious environmental damage. However, it does indicate that Thailand has a very serious problem and its local fishery is contaminated with heavy metal. The ramifications of the testing could seriously damage Thailand's fish processing and export market.

Mercury is common in oil and gas produced produced in the SEA region and in fact the gulf of Thailand has some of the highest levels of "sub-sea" mercury in the world, so could the oil spilled be high in mercury ?...yes dependent on where it was produced, could the "naturally occurring" levels of mercury in the gulf of thailand be high, ie mercury is migrating up from sub-sea ?...yes

therefore one suspects its nothing to do with dispersants used or even the dumping of effluent in the ocean from shore, the levels could be "naturally high" and have been for thousands of years....

Not likely to be 40 or 50 times the acceptable maximum though...

The whole seaboard, with heavy chemical industry just up the road in maptaphut, is generally pretty filthy. They have been spilling stuff for a long time there. They can't even stop fishing boats tossing their waste overboard.

Whichever way, it's good they start testing and publishing the results publicly. Would be interesting to see what the figures are at Rayong and ban Chang either side of maptaput irrespective of the spill.

I have a feeling it's likely that the water is very heavily polluted.

[IMA_FARANG]

They "cleaned up" the visible oil slick and it's effects on one beach.

That was all.

Only (as I said before on another post on a similar topic), cleaning the surface of the sand on one beach does NOT solve the problem of the ocean water.

That (as I said) is the delusion of a land dwelling mammal.

Ask the fish if the water is clean, they live there.

People don't.

[impulse]

I fly a microlight and about 10 days ago, late morning, was on the way down to Koh Chang with a friend. We passed over Koh Samet and did not see any oil on the beaches. However, shortly afterwards we noted several long slicks on the surface with no spraying vessels anywhere in sight. Why not? I would have thought that they would have as many capable vessels out there as possible to clean it up as quickly as possible. Please don't say "but this is Thailand"!

Did the slick look anything like the picture in post # 17 here?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/644095-oil-spill-virgin-coast-koh-samui/

One of the problems with treating oil slicks is that you have to know about them. If you see one, call it in. I can promise you that any slick sighted anywhere near one of our platforms will have us scrambling boats within the hour. Even if it's not our oil (very rarely is), it would be silly for us not to clean it up, if only for the bad PR.

Or did the slick look anything like the picture in post # 50 here?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/656663-all-out-bid-to-contain-oil-spill/page-2

Dredging industrial channels is probably the quickest way to disperse the decades of heavy metals (like mercury) accumulating in the bottom sediment. It's not a problem specific to Thailand.

Edited August 17, 2013 by impulse

[newermonkey]

Does anyone know why there would be traces of mercury in the water, is it from the oil or is it from the chemicals used to coagulate the oil?

[Thai at Heart]

Does anyone know why there would be traces of mercury in the water, is it from the oil or is it from the chemicals used to coagulate the oil?

From the oil.

[daiwill60]

One of my students who lives in Maptaput told me yesterday that oil is now on the beaches there.

I went along the coast from Ban Phe to Laem Mae Phim a few days after the initial incident and I was really surprised by the apparent lack of activity occurring.

Yes, I could see that there was some activity on the sea across the channel in the vicinity of Ao Phrao , but that was it to be honest.

I saw no boats or spraying or monitoring on the sea in the channel at from Ban Phe to LMP, which was surprising after I had seen the satellite images of the slick moving towards that area only one day before.

Then when I was talking with a couple of the local kite surfers I was told, "it is gone now towards Chantaburi" ?????

So where, one has to ask, has this slick gone and where were all the boats helicopters etc that should have been spraying this slick as it was travelling through the channel between Kho Samet and Ban Phe???????????????????????

[belg]

soon you will see a new thai invention

a car that works on SEA WATER

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

A proper comparison requires there to be a base level against which to compare the results of the recent assays.

Two questions need to be answered:

1. Was there a high level of contamination prior to the oil spill?

2. Mercury is not typically associated with oil spills of this nature. The dispersants declared do not have soluble mercury. This begs the question as to what the mercury level was prior to the spill? My gut feeling is that the mercury was in high levels long before the oil spill, and that the issue is only now becoming public. Thailand has had a very bad reputation for its dumping of untreated effluent into the ocean. I would not be surprised if the mercury was already present, along with other heavy metals.

I am in no way excusing the PTT, nor brushing off the obvious environmental damage. However, it does indicate that Thailand has a very serious problem and its local fishery is contaminated with heavy metal. The ramifications of the testing could seriously damage Thailand's fish processing and export market.

i said exactly this when the first mention of abnormal mercury levels arose.

i would not be in the least surprised

Edited August 17, 2013 by metisdead
30) Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes, added emoticons, or altered wording.

[Bagwan]

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Vichet Kasemthongsri yesterday instructed PCD officials to collect further samples of seawater from around the island for testing. He expects to release the test results today.

So he didn't like the first reading so ordered the tests to be repeated. Only a moron keeps performing the same operation again and again and expecting a different result.

[MaxLee]

They "cleaned up" the visible oil slick and it's effects on one beach.

That was all.

Only (as I said before on another post on a similar topic), cleaning the surface of the sand on one beach does NOT solve the problem of the ocean water.

That (as I said) is the delusion of a land dwelling mammal.

Ask the fish if the water is clean, they live there.

People don't.

And in addition to that, they practically fought chemicals with chemicals, adding more substance into the burning oil and that swims in the water, too. But eveyrthing is FACELIFT alright mai pen rai, surface clean, yippiiiieeeeh, case closed

[impulse]

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Vichet Kasemthongsri yesterday instructed PCD officials to collect further samples of seawater from around the island for testing. He expects to release the test results today.

So he didn't like the first reading so ordered the tests to be repeated. Only a moron keeps performing the same operation again and again and expecting a different result.

Try an experiment that will prove you wrong...

Drink 6 beers tonight and breath into one of those breathalyzers. Sleep it off. Then breathe into the breathalyzer tomorrow morning, then tomorrow afternoon.

Only a moron would expect a different result? I think you have that one backwards.

It's perfectly appropriate to take many samples, many times. That's how you figure out if things are getting better, getting worse, or staying the same. It's also how you figure out the areal extent of the damage. I won't bore you with the math.

[sandrabbit]

I took 2 pics this afternoon on Mae Rhumphung beach, one showing foam and rubbish including large lamp chucked overboard by fishing fleet (usual) and one just of foam. I have left them as taken including size for you to make up your own minds although the amount of foam is much smaller than last weekend.

Edited August 17, 2013 by sandrabbit

[Thai at Heart]

DSCN1424.JPG DSCN1425.JPGI took 2 pics this afternoon on Mae Rhumphung beach, one showing foam and rubbish including large lamp chucked overboard by fishing fleet (usual) and one just of foam. I have left them as taken including size for you to make up your own minds although the amount of foam is much smaller than last weekend.

The for foam could be anything. The dispersents were sprayed 3 weeks ago.