News Forum - Phuket residents call on authorities to investigate black water at beach

[Thaiger]

Phuket residents are calling on authorities to investigate after foul-smelling black water was found flowing into the sea at a beach. On Sunday, residents and tourists were shocked to find lots of black water pouring into the sea at Karon Beach near Nong Harn Lake. Swimmers rushed out of the sea after seeing the black …

The story Phuket residents call on authorities to investigate black water at beach as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Pompies]

Year after year, month after month I read stories like this, and nothing ever solves the problems. Why would I bring my family to Phuket when we can swim in sh*t on our own beaches for much less cost!

[Ramanathan.P]

"He also claimed that local authorities could not afford the budget to build a good wastewater treatment system"......   There are millions generated as revenue from tourism. Phuket is the first to open after pandemic and is the place where highest number of tourists are visiting 365days in a year. What happened to all that revenue that is generated. If cannot fix then don't promote Phuket as a tourists destination. 

[BJoe]

Very few places in Phuket or Pattaya that I would venture a swim.

[Jsureemee]

I haven't been to Phuket in 35 years. Previous trips to Koh Samui were 35 years ago also. Recently I went to Koh Samui and I will never return again. It is a severely overcrowded island with a woefully lacking infrastructure. I would venture a guess that Phuket is much the same.

I do understand why the government won't protect places like Phuket, Koh Samui, James Bond Island and Maya Beach from being trampled to death. It's corrupt government officials at work filling their pockets. Same old story.

I'm going to Phangna tomorrow in my own car with my wife. She said to her friends that I'm going to James Bond Island. I am not going there to compete with thousands of Chinese for a look at a rock. I saw it in the movie and the rock is just not that interesting.

[Paulw]

I would say Phuket could not afford to build a water treatment plant given the revenue earned from tourism, this is a normal Thailand story and at some stage if they dont address the problems now it will have a long term downturn effect in tourism numbers. 

[KaptainRob]

Building a waste water treatment plant is not a simple solution on an over-developed mountainous island such as Phuket.

For a start, each major beach, Kamala, Patong, Karon-Kata ... etc would require their own plant located on low-lying level ground.  Not much of that going spare that isn't Nat Park.

Then, most existing residential buildings would need connection to a sewer line run under the streets - a mammoth undertaking in itself.

Existing septic systems, if maintained correctly  do work. 

Incorrectly maintained septic overflow + commercial/industrial waste water is what you see in the khlongs, creeks and beach outfalls as 'black water'.

[TWS60]

Remember the article here last time this happened, see the "Kamala Beach" link in above full article. 

I'm no expert, however given very basic knowledge of Thailand's 2-track sewage infrastructure simply from living here/observing for many years, at a minimum, khlongs catch gray water run off from homes and businesses (shower and sink water waste, bits of food/cooking waste, etc) and ICE debris and black grime from roads washing into the system.   This cocktail can have a dank, foul odor but I generally think full-on black water containing raw sewage would be fairly obvious to most peoples' olfactory sense, despite the local gov's insistence that it's not that.   Call me cynical but when I hear a local politico, specifically one on constant defense/face saving mode in a tourist dependent area, I tend to think the opposite is more likely true.   Like when Thailand METOC predicts clear skies..... I reckon there's a reasonable chance it's going to rain.

At any rate, this type of thing happens from time to time even in my fancy 1st world country, with or without rain fall, resulting in temporary closure of certain beaches.   It happens.  But not in Thailand, apparently?  Yeah, right.

[ChrisS]

I bet TAT just love this type of story coming up time and again. Like most of Thailands issues it stems from corruption and people lining their pockets rather than addressing the problems. I have little doubt that local businesses are dumping their waste into the sea but I also do not doubt that the appropriate people have been paid off to look the other way.

[Vigo]

In Karon, there is a waste water collection pond in close proximity to several expensive resorts. It  has previously been the source of the blackwater seen at Karon. I won't name the hotels because they are owned by some heavy duty Thais who had fits the last time the link was discussed.   There is a reason why  the public health authority no longer publishes water quality ratings for Thai beaches.  Admitting to the public that there are days when they were swimming in waste water, human feces,  would not go over very well.

[Guest1]

On 2/28/2023 at 5:42 AM, Ramanathan.P said:

"He also claimed that local authorities could not afford the budget to build a good wastewater treatment system"......   There are millions generated as revenue from tourism. Phuket is the first to open after pandemic and is the place where highest number of tourists are visiting 365days in a year. What happened to all that revenue that is generated. If cannot fix then don't promote Phuket as a tourists destination. 

And the one province, that had its most hotels build in the past 30-40 years. Aside, Club med had a waste water treatment system, did never run it, Arcadia (Hilton) has one, never operated it, to expensive, every bigger hotel need to build one but the law is not ordering them , to use it. The Club Med waste water system got canceled, after the new contract got signed, the ground is now the OZO hotel! Just check on google earth, how alone Kata and Karon changed between Patak road and the beach areas. And no one ever thought about building a costly cleaning system. Now there is no space any longer. And the Karon waste water "cleaning" is: They empty chemicals containing containers into the waste waterbefore they pump it into the klong that goes to the sea, between the lake and the north end of the beach.

2 hours ago, Vigo said:

Admitting to the public that there are days when they were swimming in waste water, human feces,  would not go over very well.

Never swim in the sea near a klong, in Thailand!

(Also valid for many other countries!)