| Chao Phraya Water Quality Remains Poor (4 Nov 04) |
| 2004 Nov 03
Bangkok Post CHAO PHRAYAWATER QUALITY RANJANA WANGVIPULA Communities are continuing to pollute the Chao Phraya river, worsening the problem in its lower section to a ``critical'' level, despite years-long efforts to restore the water quality, the Pollution Control Department said yesterday. The department has been monitoring the river from Nonthaburi to Samut Prakan for 12 years and has found no significant improvement in water quality, while many key indicators are still well below acceptable standards. Officials have detected very high levels of bacteria and ammonia, which make the lower Chao Phraya as dirty as the lower sections of the Tha Chin and Lam Takhong rivers. ``Its lower part is in a critical condition,'' said Wijarn Simachaya, the department's director for water quality management, following a meeting on Monday. The government had initiated plans to rehabilitate the river in the past, especially the section that passes areas where households and factories are densely located. However, according to the department's report, the focus was only on ``immediate solutions for the short term that made Chao Phraya river basin management ineffective and unsystematic''. Between 1991 and 2003, the department conducted water quality inspections 313 times. Officials found low levels of dissolved oxygen, unusual amounts of faecal coliform bacteria from human and animal waste, as well as high levels of ammonia and bio-oxygen demand (BOD), an indicator of the volume of oxygen used by bacteria in the waterway. ``We want to see clearer policies [from the government] for the Chao Phraya and Tha Chin river management like those designed for restoring Songkhla Lake in the South,'' Mr Wijarn said. The latest rehabilitation plan requires cooperation from agriculture and industry agencies and needs more than 20 billion baht over the next five years. The main focus is on building a large number of wastewater treatment facilities in municipalities and communities. Other projects include better wastewater management at animal farms, factories, and legal amendments to ensure stricter pollution controls. Mr Wijarn said the plan needs approval from a panel overseeing the Chao Phraya river basin and also the National Water Resources Committee. An environmentalist, however, criticised the government for lacking a clear overall environmental policy, not just for the river. Mattana Thanomphan, secretary general of the Thai Environment and Community Development Association (Magic Eyes), that has long promoted Chao Phraya river rehabilitation, said with no high-level support, water experts and environmental groups will find it hard to push ahead with ideas to clean up the river. Reproduced with thanks. |