Phuket Opinion: Now not later

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Opinion: Now not later

PHUKET: It’s the same old story, year after year. As the seasons change, problems arise and then, when the season changes again, the problem disappears until the following year.

Water is a good example. When the weather goes dry and tens of thousands of tourists descend on the island, expecting a shower, a bath, a turn in the Jacuzzi, a swim in a nice clean pool, huge amounts of water are needed.

But Phuket has no natural rivers and no natural lakes. There are a couple of reservoirs and many tin mines – with widely differing qualities of water – and thousands of private wells.

But that’s nowhere near enough, and as the dry weather stretches on and on, something close to panic sets in as the authorities contemplate a serious drought. Something Must Be Done, all agree, but just what is never decided.

Then, just as things begin to look truly critical, the rain arrives and everyone sighs with relief and the problem is totally, utterly forgotten. Until the next dry season.

The problem with filthy klongs is similar, but applies the other way round. In the dry season there’s almost nothing flowing down the klongs, so there is no discernible effect on the environment.

But when the rain begins to arrive toward the end of the high and dry season, the fresh flows of water pick up the crud that has accumulated over the preceding months and carries it down the klong, across the beach and into the sea.

The Policy of Knee Jerk kicks in and everyone decides Something Must Be Done. They may even agree on what must be done. But by the time that process has been gone through, the rain has abated, the dry season has arrived again, and everyone agrees that no one needs to worry about it any more.

The trouble is, they do have to worry about it. They need to go on worrying and – most important – take action.

Laws to force people and businesses to treat water as the precious and increasingly rare commodity it is, and to collect rainwater (it’s delivered to you free for six months!) need to be passed and enforced.

Polluters of klongs are breaking the law. They should be fined as heavily as the law allows and, if they continue to pollute, they should be closed down.

The alternative is increasing deterioration of Phuket’s environment. Of course, if we manage to drive all the tourists away, then there will be plenty of water for those who remain and the polluting restaurants and hotels, with no guests, will stop polluting. Job done.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-opinion-now-not-later-45783.php

-- Phuket News 2014-04-20

[terryp]

how can anyone take this garbage serious when just last week millions of ltrs of water were thrown down the drains...Thailand needs to wake up and understand the World has changed, Thailand is going to get hotter and for longer seasons of just heat with no rain fall ....why do they think China built all the Dams...Thailand the Hub of dumb leaders

[eezergood]

Nice thought, but thats as far as it will go I am afraid

[WoopyDoo]

So what is the problem with simply building a couple of desalination plants to supply water... It worked for Spain when it was a hot tourist destination.... Never a problem when you are near the sea (which is made of water).

[eezergood]

So what is the problem with simply building a couple of desalination plants to supply water... It worked for Spain when it was a hot tourist destination.... Never a problem when you are near the sea (which is made of water).

They use HUGE amounts of power (which the island stuggles with already) and are hugely inefficient with said power (this makes them very expensive to run) they also cost a fortune to build. FInally they are not the most environmentally sound things, lots of waste etc.....

[LivinginKata]

So what is the problem with simply building a couple of desalination plants to supply water... It worked for Spain when it was a hot tourist destination.... Never a problem when you are near the sea (which is made of water).

A desalination plant was built near Karon (on the road to Patong) a couple of years ago. I assume it is in operation.

[WoopyDoo]

how can anyone take this garbage serious when just last week millions of ltrs of water were thrown down the drains...Thailand needs to wake up and understand the World has changed, Thailand is going to get hotter and for longer seasons of just heat with no rain fall ....why do they think China built all the Dams...Thailand the Hub of dumb leaders

If you are talking about climate change... That will actually bring MORE rain, not LESS rain.

Just look at Europe and the US at the moment, and the trend is slowly moving southwards towards Thailand.

Global warming (if it exists) is sucking more water out of the oceans and dumping it back down on land.

[Cylon]

Rainwater collection is simple, but still to much for Thais to understand.

[Ulic]

That is just part of Thai culture, don't worry about next week, something will come up. Just worry about today.

[mayas73]

I know this is off topic a touch, but i wish to know-my gf and i are thinking of moving to phuket from malaysia-she is malay and i am australian.we are sick of kl and all the crap that goes with that city, i have lived in bkk for 4 years before and i am wondering if anyone can give me any ideas about phuket. any dangers that i would haev to worry about as i return to work (FIFO) in aust and will have to leave her there for 2 weeks on her own.any information about phuket would be greatly appreciated.

[SeaVisionBurma]

I know this is off topic a touch, but i wish to know-my gf and i are thinking of moving to phuket from malaysia-she is malay and i am australian.we are sick of kl and all the crap that goes with that city, i have lived in bkk for 4 years before and i am wondering if anyone can give me any ideas about phuket. any dangers that i would haev to worry about as i return to work (FIFO) in aust and will have to leave her there for 2 weeks on her own.any information about phuket would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your post. Please open a new topic with your questions so it can be better answered - as you have already pointed out it is off topic for this thread.

[fiddlehead]

Rainwater collection is simple, but still to much for Thais to understand.

Obviously you've never been to Issan.

I've been all over the world and have never seen people use rainwater for their main water supply as much as I have in northern Thailand.

I have friends who do the same here in Phuket although not as prevalent as in northeast Thailand where the majority of homes collect rainwater.

[Valentine]

Rainwater collection is simple, but still to much for Thais to understand.

Obviously you've never been to Issan.

I've been all over the world and have never seen people use rainwater for their main water supply as much as I have in northern Thailand.

I have friends who do the same here in Phuket although not as prevalent as in northeast Thailand where the majority of homes collect rainwater.

Collecting rainwater all sounds good but does anyone realise just how much storage you need to get through the dry season. I know one guy in Patong who built storage tanks all around his property when building his house & he said it normally would get him through the dry season. The cost of building the amount of water storage needed is prohibitive to most. Using rainwater when it does rain is fine as you are not drawing on the other water resources thus there should be more in public storage for the dry season.