EDITORIAL
Bangkok dammed by garbage
The Nation

With the rainy season only weeks away, we need to take action now to prevent flooding

BANGKOK: -- Officials have blamed waterborne garbage for the floods that swamped areas of Bangkok following a freak summer storm on Tuesday.

Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra admitted that the release of floodwater had been too slow, but he put the blame on a mass of garbage clogging drainage pipes at

wastewater-pumping stations. Other Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) officials, as well as some experts in flooding, joined him in pointing the finger at a garbage build-up in the city's wastewater system and canals that is slowing the flow and making it difficult to pump the water off the streets.

It took several hours to drain floodwater from streets in many areas of the city following Tuesday's downpour. Everyday life was disrupted and local businesses now face large clean-up bills.

The city authorities might have been caught off-guard, not expecting so much rain to fall so quickly at this time of year. Normally, drainage pipes and canals are dredged a few weeks before the rainy season, which starts around May or June. Kangwan Deesuwan, director of the BMA's Drainage and Sewerage Department, said that he has instructed his officials at all district offices in the capital to focus on collecting garbage from the streets to prevent it from blocking the flow of rainwater. He also pledged to install more water pumps in flood-prone areas of the city by the end of next month.

Bangkok relies heavily on natural waterways like canals to drain floodwater from the city. Large drainage tunnels cover only a small area of the vast capital. This drainage shortfall often comes back to haunt Bangkok in the rainy season, when deluges can swamp whole districts in a matter of hours.

Many people treat the capital's canals as garbage bins, using them to discard everything from household waste to large items like old mattresses. That garbage load is swelled by the natural debris of leaves and branches swept into the drainage system during heavy downpours. The result is obstacles and blockages that exacerbate the flooding. That drainage pipes in many areas of the city are narrow makes the problem even worse. Structures built illegally on canal banks, such as shanty housing, make the situation worse by constricting waterways. As a result, after heavy rain we get heavier and longer floods on Bangkok streets.

These problems must be addressed if we want to prevent the kind of scenes witnessed on Tuesday. Bangkok residents could make a start by avoiding throwing garbage into waterways. City authorities could get tough with those who use these drainage channels as their own personal rubbish bins. They should also deal with the problem of canal-side squatting. And dredging drainage pipes and canals more often would ease the flow of floodwater. Old, narrow pipes could be replaced with larger ones to increase drainage capacity.

With the rainy season only weeks away, we need to take action now if we don't want the city to be paralysed by flood after flood in the months to come.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Bangkok-dammed-by-garbage-30256786.html


-- The Nation 2015-03-26

And when is the city and its people going to deal with and prevent so much unnecessary waste? Like Never!

Proper waste collection stations should be set up at several locations around the city to collect waste, separate the recycles and have trucks move the stuff to the right places for burning in a mini power station or recycling.

Don't forget that huge political garbage needs cleaning with a good "flood", too

So nothing has changed since the last big flood? As i have said before. Never do today, what you can put off till tomorrow!

maybe a focus on dumping rubbish rather than "collecting" it might be more effective in the long run

And if there was "normal" garbage collection etc, it wouldn't be clogging pipes.

It must be nice to be an "official" in Thailand. All you have to do is state what the problem is with no real valid solution to fix anything.

And if there was "normal" garbage collection etc, it wouldn't be clogging pipes.

I see garbage/trash collection every night in Silom....in my country it is normal to collect only once a week. A Recycling plan here would vastly reduce the amount of trash but throwing trash into canals is inexcusable.

That just the prove, Thailand and their people are very dirty.

And if there was "normal" garbage collection etc, it wouldn't be clogging pipes.

I see garbage/trash collection every night in Silom....in my country it is normal to collect only once a week. A Recycling plan here would vastly reduce the amount of trash but throwing trash into canals is inexcusable.

Where do you live .. not Thailand i presume. I live in BKK and I see loads of recycling.. paper gets taken away from the trash and resold.. same goes for plastic bottles and stuff. Often private persons take this away from the trash.

Its unexcuseable of the governor not to prepare.. I mean they can start earlier.. and clean up the drainage more often. But its typical Thai.. do it at the last moment.. and not before.

With the rainy season only weeks away, we need to take action now to prevent flooding.

So wait until the last minute and then acknowledge the problem and yet have no solutions. Pure Thainess.

The city authorities might have been caught off-guard, not expecting so much rain to fall so quickly at this time of year. The concept of forward planning? I guess not as that would be asking far too much.

Kangwan Deesuwan, director of the BMA's Drainage and Sewerage Department, said that he has instructed his officials at all district offices in the capital to focus on collecting garbage from the streets to prevent it from blocking the flow of rainwater. So finally he instructs staff to get off their backsides and work for their salaries?

Many people treat the capital's canals as garbage bins, using them to discard everything from household waste to large items like old mattresses. You would think the Thais, who in turn perceive Thailand to be the greatest nation on earth, would be thoroughly ashamed at themselves for turning their own country into the cesspit it has become. Maybe that's national pride Thainess style?

The solution is of course a simple one ... 100,000 Baht fine for anyone disposing of garbage illegally. Look at Singapore and how clean it is. The same can be achieved but that will take decisive action and a willingness to take Thainess out of the equation.

"City authorities could get tough with those who use these drainage channels as their own personal rubbish bins."

but they are far too busy shaking down tourists who may drop a cigarette butt in lower Sukhumvit or MBK area.

Not defending litter by anyone, but also cannot understand why squatters throw waste and rubbish in their own gardens....

And if there was "normal" garbage collection etc, it wouldn't be clogging pipes.

I see garbage/trash collection every night in Silom....in my country it is normal to collect only once a week. A Recycling plan here would vastly reduce the amount of trash but throwing trash into canals is inexcusable.

Where do you live .. not Thailand i presume. I live in BKK and I see loads of recycling.. paper gets taken away from the trash and resold.. same goes for plastic bottles and stuff. Often private persons take this away from the trash.

Its unexcuseable of the governor not to prepare.. I mean they can start earlier.. and clean up the drainage more often. But its typical Thai.. do it at the last moment.. and not before.

agree robblok but its all to do with the BUDGET.

I know plenty of places where people live above the canals and dump everything in the water. Huge piles of plastic are under their shacks waiting to be washed away.

Westerners get fined for dropping a cigarettebutt in a drain but those people can dump what they like. I even see whole sofa's or mattresses being thrown in the canals.

With the rainy season only weeks away, we need to take action now if we don't want the city to be paralysed by flood after flood in the months to come.

Sorry, my mattress is not finished with yet.... maybe in a month or two.....

And if there was "normal" garbage collection etc, it wouldn't be clogging pipes.

I see garbage/trash collection every night in Silom....in my country it is normal to collect only once a week. A Recycling plan here would vastly reduce the amount of trash but throwing trash into canals is inexcusable.

Where do you live .. not Thailand i presume. I live in BKK and I see loads of recycling.. paper gets taken away from the trash and resold.. same goes for plastic bottles and stuff. Often private persons take this away from the trash.

Its unexcuseable of the governor not to prepare.. I mean they can start earlier.. and clean up the drainage more often. But its typical Thai.. do it at the last moment.. and not before.

The problem with your garbage recyclers is, that in their eager to get at the sellable items, they throw everything else in the bin on the ground, making the whole area look like garbage dump!!

And if there was "normal" garbage collection etc, it wouldn't be clogging pipes.

I see garbage/trash collection every night in Silom....in my country it is normal to collect only once a week. A Recycling plan here would vastly reduce the amount of trash but throwing trash into canals is inexcusable.

Where do you live .. not Thailand i presume. I live in BKK and I see loads of recycling.. paper gets taken away from the trash and resold.. same goes for plastic bottles and stuff. Often private persons take this away from the trash.

Its unexcuseable of the governor not to prepare.. I mean they can start earlier.. and clean up the drainage more often. But its typical Thai.. do it at the last moment.. and not before.

agree robblok but its all to do with the BUDGET.

If the corruption levels were less here the budget would allow for 30% more work.. but that would mean that government officials could not steal anymore.

And if there was "normal" garbage collection etc, it wouldn't be clogging pipes.

I see garbage/trash collection every night in Silom....in my country it is normal to collect only once a week. A Recycling plan here would vastly reduce the amount of trash but throwing trash into canals is inexcusable.

Where do you live .. not Thailand i presume. I live in BKK and I see loads of recycling.. paper gets taken away from the trash and resold.. same goes for plastic bottles and stuff. Often private persons take this away from the trash.

Its unexcuseable of the governor not to prepare.. I mean they can start earlier.. and clean up the drainage more often. But its typical Thai.. do it at the last moment.. and not before.

The problem with your garbage recyclers is, that in their eager to get at the sellable items, they throw everything else in the bin on the ground, making the whole area look like garbage dump!!

Maybe with YOUR garbage recyclers.. the ones doing it here in this BKK village would not dare to do that. Here they do go through the bags but never leave a mess.

And what about the soidog "recyclers" ? Do they also clean up the mess after recycling the binbags?

And if there was "normal" garbage collection etc, it wouldn't be clogging pipes.

I see garbage/trash collection every night in Silom....in my country it is normal to collect only once a week. A Recycling plan here would vastly reduce the amount of trash but throwing trash into canals is inexcusable.

Thailand has a massive recycling industry........!

"City authorities could get tough with those who use these drainage channels as their own personal rubbish bins."

but they are far too busy shaking down tourists who may drop a cigarette butt in lower Sukhumvit or MBK area.

Not defending litter by anyone, but also cannot understand why squatters throw waste and rubbish in their own gardens....

I see all the street vendors are using the drains as their personal garbage "hole in the ground" and teh "cigarette butt" police are standing next to them laughing....

In all fairness It is not only Thai's doing this but a Good deal of Expats I seen do this lazy fat slobs. You know the ones drink that bottle of water and toss the empty to damn lazy to look for garbage can. There Times I walk to a BTS station to drop my trash. Or you see them fries in one hand soda in other face in fries eating down right low class slobs. And don't get me started on the Chinese The worst of the lot. I refuse to use handrails here.

Edited March 26, 201511 yr by Strangebrew

I bet some spin doctors work on it already to turn this to positive news like:

“Another gift from your administration- New floating markets create jobs for the underprivileged”

SUkhumvit is already flooded in places

Karma at work.

.

Where do you live .. not Thailand i presume. I live in BKK and I see loads of recycling.. paper gets taken away from the trash and resold.. same goes for plastic bottles and stuff. Often private persons take this away from the trash.

Its unexcuseable of the governor not to prepare.. I mean they can start earlier.. and clean up the drainage more often. But its typical Thai.. do it at the last moment.. and not before.

The problem with your garbage recyclers is, that in their eager to get at the sellable items, they throw everything else in the bin on the ground, making the whole area look like garbage dump!!

Maybe with YOUR garbage recyclers.. the ones doing it here in this BKK village would not dare to do that. Here they do go through the bags but never leave a mess.

Might come as a surprise to you Robbie, but not all people live in gated communities, projects or "villages".

Some of us actually endanger our lives by on a daily basis living in midst of ordinary Thai people!!

And OUR garbage recyclers are throwing the contents of the bins all over the place!!

It sounds like they let the trash accumulate from the end of one rainy season up until a couple weeks before they think the next rainy season will commence.

Why not have teams working year 'round to keep the canals/waterways clear? Maybe utilize prison detainees ("chain gangs") to do that?

Or, is the thinking that there would be no benefit to do it between the rainy seasons?

Clearly Yingluk's fault!

.Where do you live .. not Thailand i presume. I live in BKK and I see loads of recycling.. paper gets taken away from the trash and resold.. same goes for plastic bottles and stuff. Often private persons take this away from the trash.

Its unexcuseable of the governor not to prepare.. I mean they can start earlier.. and clean up the drainage more often. But its typical Thai.. do it at the last moment.. and not before.

The problem with your garbage recyclers is, that in their eager to get at the sellable items, they throw everything else in the bin on the ground, making the whole area look like garbage dump!!

Maybe with YOUR garbage recyclers.. the ones doing it here in this BKK village would not dare to do that. Here they do go through the bags but never leave a mess.

Might come as a surprise to you Robbie, but not all people live in gated communities, projects or "villages".

Some of us actually endanger our lives by on a daily basis living in midst of ordinary Thai people!!

And OUR garbage recyclers are throwing the contents of the bins all over the place!!

Who do you think live in this village.. ordinary Thai people.. this is no HISO gated community. Most houses are 1-2 million no more.

There are even some houses of the recyclers full of bottles and stuff.. not a pretty sight.. but its on their turf. not on the streets.