FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Environmental quality slumps

Environmental quality slumps

Air quality in and around Bangkok has deteriorated this year with residents subject to more fine dust particles.

The country was also overwhelmed by some 16-million tonnes of garbage, while coastal seawater and river mouths were polluted by wastewater released from homes, industries, and farming.
The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) yesterday hosted a meeting to assess the environmental situation for 2012 and changes over the past decade. They found deteriorating environmental quality due to the increased consumption of natural resources for the economy and industry.
Environmental Engineering Association of Thailand (EEAT) adviser Supat Wangwongwattana said Thailand faced many types of air pollution over the past 10-20 years. Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and lead had been lowered, while tiny-particle dust from car exhaust had risen, especially in Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Samut Sakhon and Nonthaburi.
Garbage also was a worry with last year’s amounting to about 16 million tonnes – a 5 per cent increase from 2010 – while only 36 per cent was disposed of properly. He said only about a quarter of community garbage was recycled.
The quality of coastal seawater and river-mouth water had also worsened with seawater at the Chao Phraya River mouth, Chan Damri beach, Ranong River mouth and Laem Ngob deemed as “very bad”, he said. The amount of good water has declined over the past four years from 12 per cent to only 2 per cent.
Supat said coastal seawater pollution resulted from home waste (60 per cent) and untreated wastewater from factories and farms (40 per cent). Some 101 communities were equipped with water treatment systems but could treat only 10 per cent of all wastewater. Each year the government funds wastewater treatment for 10 communities out of 8,000, Supat said. Some local bodies failed to get the system running, claiming there was no money to fund power and they couldn’t collect such fees from residents and local businesses.
Another speaker from Chulalongkorn University’s (CU) Engineering Faculty, Chanatip Parino, mentioned the imbalance between water supply and demand.
Sitthidech Pongkitworasin from Chulalongkorn University’s Economy Faculty said use of energy rose by 2 per cent per year. In 2011, energy use was equal to 70,562 KOTE in crude oil – a third going to industry and a third to transport, while efficiency technology was behind many countries.
 

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