Clean up the mess at Kata in Phuket

My husband and I are long-time regular visitors to Phuket. In 1981, we landed on the island for the first time. It was absolute paradise then with long empty beaches and only one small road from the airport to the villages on the west coast. Through the years, we saw Phuket change into the concrete jungle that it is today, with tons of hotels, condos, 7-Elevens and ‘same same’ shopping arcades everywhere. But still we like Phuket as it is and we keep coming back.

We stay in Kata most of the time but this year we were struck by the immense filthiness of the wastewater canal that runs from Club Med to the north end of the beach where the water runs into the sea. This water must be heavily polluted since it is blacker than black and smells terrible. (We really pity the thousands of tourists who daily have to pass this filthy canal to reach the beach). At the north end of the beach, the canal gets even filthier, as fishermen who seem to live there dump the remains of fuel, oil and what else they use into the water. 

This makes it hard to believe that the sea in this part of Kata is safe for swimming. Has anybody ever tested the water at this point. And have the results been published? 

This blackwater canal (and the garbage dump that is floating in and around it) is a disgrace and definitely no recommendation for the top-end destination that Phuket wants to be. Please clean up this mess or no tourist will ever come back.

Elsje from the Netherlands