Patong Bay's brown water is safe, says Phuket expert
Phuket Gazette


Patong Bay takes on a brown hue in juxtaposition to the postcard Andaman Sea blue, but is still safe according to experts. Photo: Supplied

PHUKET: -- Despite its brown color and stench, Patong Bay is clean and safe, Patong Municipality Sanitation Department Chief Suppakorn Meekaew told the Phuket Gazette on Tuesday.

“People swimming and enjoying the beach should not panic about the color of the water. They can swim as usual – it will not affect their health,” Mr Suppakorn said.

“The brown color doesn’t mean the water is dirty,” he explained. “It’s due to the photosynthesis of plankton.”

As for the bad smell, Mr Suppakorn said that it comes from the Pak Bang Canal when the sun heats the water there during low tide. The odor is not dangerous either, he added.

This is not the first time Patong has seen brown, smelly seawater. It has faced a similar problem with “big brown” water in previous years and as recently as last August.

“We hire a private company to conduct water quality testing in the area every other month,” Mr Suppakorn said.

“The tests on January 23 showed that the quality of the water falls within the marine water quality standards of the Pollution Control Department (PCD). Water treatment reports from hotels also do not exceed the department’s quality standards.”

Nevertheless, the Regional Environmental Office 15 is planning further testing in Patong in two weeks to further assure that the seawater quality is at a healthy level, Mr Suppakorn added.

The Regional Environmental Office 15 isn’t the only government agency testing the water in Patong Bay; the Phuket Marine Biological Center tests it every two months. However, the PMBC has not been transparent in releasing its test results.

Instead of posting the details of its seawater quality tests online, the center will publish only its self-determined star rating system, PMBC Director Ukkrit Satapoomin told the Gazette in December.

The star ratings reveal whether the PMBC considers the water at Phuket’s famous beaches as very good, good, fair, poor or very poor.

In its most recent report, labelled “Marine water quality along the coastline of Phuket in 2013”, the PMBC declared that the seawater at Patong Beach was in “good condition”.

However, the water in the north and central areas of Patong Bay was declared to be in only “fair” condition, and Dr Ukkrit declined to explain why the water quality was different in these areas.

Phuket Gov Maitri Inthusut had earlier ordered the PMBC to publicly display its water quality ratings.

The move followed a meeting in Phuket with ambassadors from 17 European nations to raise awareness of beach safety issues.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2014/Patong-Bay-s-brown-water-is-safe-says-Phuket-expert-25598.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2014-02-15

"Despite its brown color and stench, Patong Bay is clean and safe"

Despite its brown color and stench, Patong Bay is clean and safe

Yup, no sharks.

Despite its brown color and stench.. Dear lord..

Also "“The brown color doesn’t mean the water is dirty,” he explained. “It’s due to the photosynthesis of plankton."

And what is it the plankton are feeding on ?? Couldnt be high levels of what we would consider 'dirty' then ??

I would never even think about entering the water at Patong. Full of pollution.

And not a jetski in sight.

Check the pharmacies for sales of Imodium.

Well they SAY its SAFE but it looks and smells just like runny SHIT ....

Does this guy actually believe that the general public is dumb enough to believe him? Let this guy swim in the brown water daily for a month and then let him tell us how clean it really is.

So many marine biologists are TV members, I would never have guessed.

So many marine biologists are TV members, I would never have guessed.

Don't need to be a marine biologist to tell the difference between sh*t and shinola.

Well it sure as s**t it isnt clean.

Tourists must be loving it there....... come to amazing Phuket and see the brown hue waters ... PS its safe, honest because some official said so ​

However, the water in the north and central areas of Patong Bay was declared to be in only “fair” condition, and Dr Ukkrit declined to explain why the water quality was different in these areas.

So either he doesn't know or doesn't want to say- hardly inspires confidence in the man either way !

If it looks like sh*t and it smells like sh*t, it must be plankton.

anyone know what it tastes like?

I would never even think about entering the water at Patong. Full of pollution.

Now, Now They have the finest sewage in the world. People flock to Thailand in record numbers every year just to swim amongst Thai excrement.

I decided to go for a dip in my new "Patong Bay" swimsuit.

"Despite its brown color and stench, Patong Bay is clean and safe"

canstock13204738.jpg

Well, you are the expert in that.

Despite its brown color and stench.. Dear lord..

Also "“The brown color doesn’t mean the water is dirty,” he explained. “It’s due to the photosynthesis of plankton."

And what is it the plankton are feeding on ?? Couldnt be high levels of what we would consider 'dirty' then ??

"And what is it the plankton are feeding on ?? Couldnt be high levels of what we would consider 'dirty' then ??"

No, it couldn't.

The answer was in your own post. Plankton that photosynthesise are plants and they obtain nourishment or energy from photosynthesis. They don't "feed".

So many marine biologists are TV members, I would never have guessed.

Don't need to be a marine biologist to tell the difference between sh*t and shinola.

Apparently you do.

The answer was in your own post. Plankton that photosynthesise are plants and they obtain nourishment or energy from photosynthesis. They don't "feed".

Phytoplankton uses photosynthesis, but then there are for example Bacterioplankton, which like bacteria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterioplankton

So many marine biologists are TV members, I would never have guessed.

Don't need to be a marine biologist to tell the difference between sh*t and shinola.

Apparently you do.

Uhhhhh,no, you don't MMarlow.

All you have to do is go to the bridge going up the hill toward the Amari, that goes over the khlong, and look at the water coming out of Patong into the ocean.

It is sh*t and shinola, black,smelly, nasty water.

Equate it with soil for your photosynthetic plant life.

So many marine biologists are TV members, I would never have guessed.

Don't need to be a marine biologist to tell the difference between sh*t and shinola.

Apparently you do.

Uhhhhh,no, you don't MMarlow.

All you have to do is go to the bridge going up the hill toward the Amari, that goes over the khlong, and look at the water coming out of Patong into the ocean.

It is sh*t and shinola, black,smelly, nasty water.

Equate it with soil for your photosynthetic plant life.

If on the bridge you don't even need to look. Just smell that very nasty aroma.

So many marine biologists are TV members, I would never have guessed.

Don't need to be a marine biologist to tell the difference between sh*t and shinola.

Apparently you do.

Yes, it looks nasty, yes, it smells nasty, but that does not mean it is nasty.

Have to agree with MMarlow here, this is an excellent opportunity for some Thai/officials/Phuket/Thailand bashing, but who of the posters so far has some real knowledge of the subject except 'looks ans smells nasty so it must be shit'.

So many marine biologists are TV members, I would never have guessed.

Don't need to be a marine biologist to tell the difference between sh*t and shinola.

Apparently you do.

Yes, it looks nasty, yes, it smells nasty, but that does not mean it is nasty.

Have to agree with MMarlow here, this is an excellent opportunity for some Thai/officials/Phuket/Thailand bashing, but who of the posters so far has some real knowledge of the subject except 'looks ans smells nasty so it must be shit'.

It is shit.!!.i lived at Phuket palace which overlooks the khlong and apart from all the crap dumped into it from further upstream, for years and years there has been burmese construction villages here and their shit is dumped directly into this khlong,and has been for many years..

nothing at all to do with Thai/officials/Phuket/Thailand bashing..cold hard facts mate!! this is first hand real knowledge of the subject...

In a word, what a load of bulls-it!!!!

Of course it would not be someones sewerage, would it???

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So many marine biologists are TV members, I would never have guessed.

Don't need to be a marine biologist to tell the difference between sh*t and shinola.

Apparently you do.

All you have to do is go to the bridge going up the hill toward the Amari, that goes over the khlong, and look at the water coming out of Patong into the ocean.

It is sh*t and shinola, black,smelly, nasty water.

I wonder what is the volume of water coming down the khlong and draining into the bay and what is the volume of water it is being drained into, I have a sneaky feeling that percentage wise the former is a fraction of the twentieth decimal place of zero to the latter, if you get my drift!

But wasn't that part of the design concept in the first place, duh!

Maybe they need Rihanna again to make a clip on the shores of the klong...

Yes, it looks nasty, yes, it smells nasty, but that does not mean it is nasty.

Apparently you do.

Have to agree with MMarlow here, this is an excellent opportunity for some Thai/officials/Phuket/Thailand bashing, but who of the posters so far has some real knowledge of the subject except 'looks ans smells nasty so it must be shit'.

It is shit.!!.i lived at Phuket palace which overlooks the khlong and apart from all the crap dumped into it from further upstream, for years and years there has been burmese construction villages here and their shit is dumped directly into this khlong,and has been for many years..

nothing at all to do with Thai/officials/Phuket/Thailand bashing..cold hard facts mate!! this is first hand real knowledge of the subject...

And we mustn't overlook the number of overseas tourists urinating in the bay whilst swimming, bad tourists.

Perhaps they could take samples and publish them. This could settle all the conjecture. I personally don't think they will be pretty. Again that's an opinion.

As a visiting tourist, whether or not the sh*tty colour and sh*tty smell is dangerous or not, is actually not the point. Tourists normally expect 'world-class' resorts to have beautiful, blue sea, clean and clear and no smell of sh*t!

You do not see travel brochures full of photos of sh*t-brown sea - it would be rather difficult to sell the hotel rooms if they did......

So...... rather than trying to reassure everyone that the sea and smell is all ok, the authorities should be buying maxi-strength toilet fresheners and filtering out the .. er ... plankton.