Local people promptly reported the problem to local politician Winai Chidchiao. Hurrying to the spot, he too was shocked.
Usually, waste water is contained in the pond before being treated and then released, but Mr Winai said he thought that “some establishment” had dumped untreated waste into the Nong Harn pond which had overflowed, with the foul water leaking onto the beach.
The matter is being taken seriously. This afternoon, Governor Maitri Inthusut visited the site with the Deputy Mayor of Karon, the head of the Phuket Office of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Regional Director of the Environment, Dr Pornsri Puthanarak, to see what could be done to rectify the problem.
From the investigation, the team found that the area is the spot that receives water from Nong Harn pond. The water is draining naturally to the beach. The water in the pond is black so it makes the beach dirty. Usually, tourists don’t swim in the area but go away for 50-100 meters from the spot. But today, a lot of tourists were at the beach.
“The cause of the spoiled water drained into the sea is from the collection of dirt and dust in the pond making the pond spoiled.
A check by technicians from the Regional Environment Office showed that the biological oxygen demand (BOD) rate – a measure of pollution – was still within legal limits.
The water turned black because water pouring from Nong Harn into a smaller pond at a faster rate than usual had stirred up mud settled in the bottom of the smaller pond, releasing it into the stream flowing across the beach.
By the afternoon, the Governor said, “The water is much clearer now and can be used for washing one’s face. There is no smell. Tourists can be sure that there’s no problem at the beach now.”
“I have ordered Karon Municipality to dig Nong Harn deeper and remove the black mud from it. I will make sure that we find out who is draining wastewater into the pond. We will check them all to see if they have an oil trap before the water drains into the pond and that they are following environmental regulations. “I have also ordered the Regional Environment Office to continue checking the water regularly.
“At the moment, Karon municipality has a wastewater treatment plant that can handle 6,000 cubic meters a day. In high season, however, the number of tourists means the wastewater going into it goes up more than 8,000 cubic meters.
Karon Municipality is now asking for B350 million to build one more wastewater treatment plant to handle the extra load,” he added.
Dr Pornsri said, “We checked the sea water [close to the black water outflow] at Karon Beach and found that the BOD rate is not over the limit.
“But what people saw today made them think that was polluted. That’s all.”
Gov Maitri’s reaction today was swift as he tried to head off a repetition of the incident three years ago when a TV documentary was aired in Germany highlighting polluted water pouring onto three of Phuket’s beaches – Patong, Kata and Karon.
The problem was rectified and the TV people and the island’s honorary consuls invited to see the results.
Additional reporting by Anthika Muangrod.