Phuket environmental officials target Patong’s untreated wastewater problem

[webfact]

Phuket environmental officials target Patong’s untreated wastewater problem
Tanyaluk Sakoot


The Patong Municipality wastewater treatment plant reportedly collects wastewater from throughout about 80 per cent of the Patong area. Photo: Environmental Department’s Region 15 office

PHUKET: -- Officials from Environmental Department’s Region 15 office in Phuket today collected samples of wastewater from Pak Bang Canal in the hope of determining what caused the beach water in Patong Bay to turn brown this past week.

Samples were collected from about 100m downstream from the Patong Municipality wastewater treatment plant and at several points along the canal to where the waterway empties into Patong Bay at the southern end of the beach.

Samples were also collected from along the Patong beachfront, said environmental officer Khanchit Soontrakorn.

“We especially inspected the water released by the Patong wastewater treatment plant,” Mr Khanchit told The Phuket News.

“We know that Patong Municipality has its own individual company hired to test water quality of the water it releases, but we want to know the volume of nutrients that is in the water that is released by the plant, which could which affect plankton in bay,” he said.

However, Mr Khanchit said that his officers will have to wait 10 days for the water-quality test results.

“Then we can figure out what caused the water at Patong Beach to change colour and how to solve the problem,” he added.

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-environmental-officials-target-patong-untreated-wastewater-problem-57086.php


-- Phuket News 2016-04-19

[Reigntax]

Surely they mean "untreated algae bloom"?

[eliotness]

The chemical analysis should not take 10 days. The longest test is the 5 day BOD, all the rest could be done in 1 day, 2 at the most. The longer samples are stored the more the chemical and biological components can change. I suspect the delay is more due to the need to have "flexible" analytical results.

[Ulic]

Enough with the talk, fix it.

[snoop1130]

Patong Bay water sent to Bangkok for testing
Kritsada Mueanhawong

PHUKET: -- Officials have recently collected samples of water in Patong Bay and sent them to Bangkok to determine whether it is pollution or algae that has caused the sea water to turn brown.

Akkarawat Hirunphun, an environmental specialist in the Phuket-based Regional Environmental Office, and his staff inspected the green-brown water along the Patong coast (story here) for contamination.

“We took water samples from four locations – one sample each from the north and south of the Patong wastewater treatment plant; one from Klong Pak Bang; and one from Patong Bay, about 100 meters from the coast,” said Mr Akkarawat. “Getting the results should take about 10 days.”

Full Story: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Patong-Bay-water-sent-Bangkok-testing/63720?desktopversion#ad-image-0

-- Phuket Gazette 2016-19-04

[eliotness]

If they suspect human waste contamination, then simple test for e-coli, takes 24 hours. I still fail to understand why they say 10 days and furthermore why do they have to send the samples to Bangkok. Surely in a country that relies so much on tourism there would be labs in several locations. Something here stinks and I don't just mean the water.