Tests continue to determine contamination in Ao Phrao

[Lite Beer]

Tests continue to determine contamination in Ao Phrao
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Sunday Nation

Pollution Control Department officials collect samples of sand from Ao Phrao beach on Koh Samet yesterday, as soldiers remove the remaining oil and begin the process of sand rehabilitation.

KOH SAMET: -- Though the affected beach area in Koh Samet's Ao Phrao has recovered to some extent after last month's oil spill, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) is still investigating the possibility of hazardous contamination under the sand in the tainted areas.

Meanwhile, another test run by the department to study the quality of seawater found that the level of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) in samples of seawater in Ao Phrao and Ao Look Yon, collected on Thursday, exceeded acceptable standards.

"We really need to know what lies beneath the sand?"Anukoon Suthapan, director of the department's Emergency Response and Remedy Division, said.

Anukoon is leading a group of six pollution inspectors to collect samples of sand from the Ao Phrao beach, which was affected by the oil spill since July 28.

Ao Phrao is widely regarded as the top destination in Rayong province's Koh Samet for tourists to enjoy the beach, coral reefs and the sunset.

Three weeks ago, the sandy beach and seawater surrounding Ao Phrao were sullied by the black oil spill. However, the light brown colour of sand and the turqoise blue seawater are slowly re-emerging through the efforts of numerous soldiers and spirit volunteers who were deployed to clean up the tainted beach and seawater.

To ensure the beach is free of contamination, the department is conducting a study to measure the level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and TPH on the beach, which is the habitat for the marine benthos.

Inspectors wearing white biohazard suits went to the affected site yesterday morning to collect sand samples from the 400-metre-long beach.

They had only three hours in the morning to finish collecting the sand samples before high tides began at noon.

Iron pipes have been used to drill about 20 metres deep into the sand and electronic devices are being used to measure the level of VOCs and TPH.

The inspectors need to collect sand samples from 30 spots on the beach at Ao Phrao to study the contamination levels.

About eight samples of sand will be tested to check for TPH contamination.

In the preliminary test by the rapid measuring device, Anukoon said the inspectors found that the level of VOCs was measured at 0.2 part per million (ppm), which is a very low level.

At Ao Phrao, hundreds of soldiers are using small spoons to remove the remaining oil and begin the process of sand rehabilitation.

They are also using chemical absorbent pads with wooden sticks to remove traces of oil from the beach.

Meanwhile, the department's director-general, Wichien Jungrungruang, said the results of the third test on contaminated seawater around Koh Samet caused by the oil spill have shown that the level of TPH in Ao Phrao and Ao Look Yon exceeded the acceptable standard of 0.5 microgram per litre.

The result showed that as of Thursday, the level of TPH in Ao Phrao was measured at 5.7 microgram per litre and it was 1.3 microgram per litre at Ao Look Yon.

"Visitors are being told to avoid swimming in these two areas until the test results show the seawater quality is safe," he said.

Meanwhile, the latest test result showed that the level of mercury in Ao Tub Tim and Ao Phrao has fallen to below the acceptable standard.

The department will, next week, conduct its fourth and fifth tests to study the quality of seawater.

-- The Nation 2013-08-18

[noitom]

PTT Chemical Group chemical engineers no where in the article even as an assist of resources. Showing a little concern for the environment, the people, and the country.

[NongKhaiKid]

PTT Chemical Group chemical engineers no where in the article even as an assist of resources. Showing a little concern for the environment, the people, and the country.

In addition no government agency or official has criticised or is seen to be putting the arm on them.

All pals together and vested intrests ?

[noitom]

PTT Chemical Group chemical engineers no where in the article even as an assist of resources. Showing a little concern for the environment, the people, and the country.

In addition no government agency or official has criticised or is seen to be putting the arm on them.

All pals together and vested intrests ?

They appear to be "the untouchables."

[Nisa]

I thought PTT already accepted responsibility and stated they will pay for damages and clean up. If there were PTT engineers out there then there would be cries they are skewing the numbers.

Edited August 18, 2013 by Nisa

[geriatrickid]

Oh man. Seriously? This article is all over the place. First they say the samples are coming from the beach sand, and then they reference seawater samples. Then the article states " that the level of mercury in Ao Tub Tim and Ao Phrao has fallen to below the acceptable standard."
Highly unlikely. If an area shows as having high levels of mercury, or more likely monomethylmercury, the likelihood of it dissipating over a few days is unlikely. I won't bore everyone with the references, but it just doesn't happen that way. Either we have exceptionally poor journalism on display or there is an intent to mislead the public.

[siampolee]

gertiatrickid post # 6

Oh man. Seriously? This article is all over the place. First they say the samples are coming from the beach sand, and then they reference seawater samples. Then the article states " that the level of mercury in Ao Tub Tim and Ao Phrao has fallen to below the acceptable standard."

Highly unlikely. If an area shows as having high levels of mercury, or more likely monomethylmercury, the likelihood of it dissipating over a few days is unlikely. I won't bore everyone with the references, but it just doesn't happen that way. Either we have exceptionally poor journalism on display or there is an intent to mislead the public.

Remember that without a doubt the press report was not from the reporter but from one of the propaganda machines that distorts the truth so often here in Thailand.

The mighty god tourism must not be offended, the mighty god of face must not be offended nor the mighty gods of the company that caused this environmental disaster which is to the locals a business and livelihood disaster as well as an environmental one, the truth must not be seen or heard lest it causes offence.

Methinks GK your last comments there is an intent to mislead the public. are indeed the truth. One is led to wonder did the order to write this press report come from the government or the business entity that is part owned by the government ?

[Nisa]

Oh man. Seriously? This article is all over the place. First they say the samples are coming from the beach sand, and then they reference seawater samples. Then the article states " that the level of mercury in Ao Tub Tim and Ao Phrao has fallen to below the acceptable standard."

Highly unlikely. If an area shows as having high levels of mercury, or more likely monomethylmercury, the likelihood of it dissipating over a few days is unlikely. I won't bore everyone with the references, but it just doesn't happen that way. Either we have exceptionally poor journalism on display or there is an intent to mislead the public.

The way I read the article is they are testing a number of things in a number of places.

The article doesn't mention this but the original Mercury reports are from the first few days in August. However that report wasn't released until earlier this week. Subsequent tests were done at the same time as the initial report was released but were released days later.

[A Member]

I thought PTT already accepted responsibility and stated they will pay for damages and clean up. If there were PTT engineers out there then there would be cries they are skewing the numbers.

It wouldn't do any harm for a couple of PTT people to turn up now and then but they made a statement about responsibility and compensation then disappeared.

[Nisa]

I thought PTT already accepted responsibility and stated they will pay for damages and clean up. If there were PTT engineers out there then there would be cries they are skewing the numbers.

It wouldn't do any harm for a couple of PTT people to turn up now and then but they made a statement about responsibility and compensation then disappeared.

What kind of photo op would you think appropriate for them? There is no way they could win in this situation from a PR stance. Clearly they have been involved big time in the cleanup and came out and apologized, accepted responsibility, agreed to pay for the clean up and those effected and have already begun compensating those effected. Easy to be mad at oil companies when things like this happen but in this case they appear to be taking the high road and can't recall any other incident like this where a company has been so quick to accept responsibility especially when the fault may lay with a defective part from Goodyear. The lawyers must have been going nuts when the company took responsibility and offered to pay claims so quickly.

Clearly they could have reacted better as is almost always the case in any situation like this but hindsight is always 20/20 ... especially when we don't have all the facts.

Edited August 18, 2013 by Nisa

[ginjag]

Oh man. Seriously? This article is all over the place. First they say the samples are coming from the beach sand, and then they reference seawater samples. Then the article states " that the level of mercury in Ao Tub Tim and Ao Phrao has fallen to below the acceptable standard."

Highly unlikely. If an area shows as having high levels of mercury, or more likely monomethylmercury, the likelihood of it dissipating over a few days is unlikely. I won't bore everyone with the references, but it just doesn't happen that way. Either we have exceptionally poor journalism on display or there is an intent to mislead the public.

The way I read the article is they are testing a number of things in a number of places.

The article doesn't mention this but the original Mercury reports are from the first few days in August. However that report wasn't released until earlier this week. Subsequent tests were done at the same time as the initial report was released but were released days later.

Remember about 2 days ago you said " someone was pulling my leg" you didn't believe me when I told you about oil + under the surface of the sand, and I said no swimming in some areas, you fobbed that off and thought PTT paying compensation was all they should be doing. When will they start paying ??? as people have lost holidays, businesses are closed.

Looks clean more than it did. Ha Ha. has to do. YES they have done some hard work there, with it being a prime place for sunset and bay position making it the best location, WAS. go elsewhere ?? TUB TIM east coast was not supposed to be affected, now IT is hitting headlines.

It's time we all accepted this was unfortunate, and have to make sure it cannot be repeated. But what we do NOT need is people "Playing it down" and trying to make excuses, contamination is small scale.

Come clean expose all, then we in Thailand can have a revival of older times.

[impulse]

It's time we all accepted this was unfortunate, and have to make sure it cannot be repeated. But what we do NOT need is people "Playing it down" and trying to make excuses, contamination is small scale.

Come clean expose all, then we in Thailand can have a revival of older times.

It was a tragedy. It should not have happened. In many respects, the response was inadequate. Especially in the first 24 hours, and even more so in the press.

But they have rallied and seem to be doing a decent job of catch up on the cleaning. Nobody believes the job is finished, PTT included.

"Coming clean" may have more ramifications than many are willing to accept, and I can just imagine the handcuffs on PTT to release information that would point to a pre-polluted state in the "pristine tourist wonderland".

Kind of reminds me of those horror movies where the dog chews through the fence and digs up a corpse in the next door neighbor's flower bed. No, the dog should have never chewed through the fence, and yes the dog's owner should pay for the damage to the fence and to the flowers.

But that's not what the next door neighbor should be worried about.

[geriatrickid]

I consider the article to be misleading in respect to the references to mercury, because mercury is not associated with oil spills of this kind.. Mercury contamination is associated with the burning of coal and with heavy industry. BLCP Coal Power Plant Thailand is located at Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Rayong, Thailand. It uses higher quality imported bituminous coal and is supposedly a "modern" plant. Either something is wrong at the plant, or there is a problem with heavy metal effluent coming from the Rayong industrial estates. IMO, the attempt to link the high levels of mercury with the oil spill just doesn't sound right because it is contrary to the existing scholarly articles and research. I believe that the mercury was already present and that a side effect of the oil spill has been that it is being picked up now, most likely because results were never made public previously and because of the activity in the region that has stirred up sediment from the sea bed.

In plain language, there is mercury contamination in the region, and that if someone looks closer, they will most likely discover lead, cadmium, tungsten, chromium etc. also Just as these heavy metals bioaccumulate and take time to reach dangerous levels, they do not disappear in a few weeks as the article suggests. There is a bigger problem in the Rayong region, and that's the issue that is being ignored by the media, the government, and by industry. I am puzzled, why none of the NGOs are speaking up. I don't expect much from the Thai environment department, let alone the government. If the Democrats were looking for an issue with which to impale the government, it has just been handed to them on a silver platter.

Edited August 18, 2013 by geriatrickid

[Thai at Heart]

I consider the article to be misleading in respect to the references to mercury, because mercury is not associated with oil spills of this kind.. Mercury contamination is associated with the burning of coal and with heavy industry. BLCP Coal Power Plant Thailand is located at Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Rayong, Thailand. It uses higher quality imported bituminous coal and is supposedly a "modern" plant. Either something is wrong at the plant, or there is a problem with heavy metal effluent coming from the Rayong industrial estates. IMO, the attempt to link the high levels of mercury with the oil spill just doesn't sound right because it is contrary to the existing scholarly articles and research. I believe that the mercury was already present and that a side effect of the oil spill has been that it is being picked up now, most likely because results were never made public previously and because of the activity in the region that has stirred up sediment from the sea bed.

In plain language, there is mercury contamination in the region, and that if someone looks closer, they will most likely discover lead, cadmium, tungsten, chromium etc. also Just as these heavy metals bioaccumulate and take time to reach dangerous levels, they do not disappear in a few weeks as the article suggests. There is a bigger problem in the Rayong region, and that's the issue that is being ignored by the media, the government, and by industry. I am puzzled, why none of the NGOs are speaking up. I don't expect much from the Thai environment department, let alone the government. If the Democrats were looking for an issue with which to impale the government, it has just been handed to them on a silver platter.

All possible, however mercury is present in crude oil depending on its origin

I really wouldn't doubt at all that the pollution management in maptaphut had over the y years been terrible and so the whole coastline could have bad levels of contaminants.

How people swim on Rayong beach with PTT visible up the coast only a km or two is beyond me.

[rjcampbe]

we have exceptionally poor journalism on display or there is an intent to mislead the public.

I think you have the wrong conjunction in that sentence... Should read "we have exceptionally poor journalism on display AND there is an intent to mislead the public."