Water tests by environmental officers showed that the canal water was carrying 1.7mg of contaminants per liter, much of which is already belived to be from untreated wastewater being dumped into the canal.
“This is serious,” said Mayor Samran. “The solution requires cooperation from many agencies, including the Phuket Provincial Office, to come down to solve the problems because Chalong is an area that has tourism, and many tourists visit the area each year.
“If the wastewater problem is not resolved, it will seriously affect tourism,” he said.
As an initial remedy environmental officers will deploy EM (effective micro-organism) balls into the canal, Mayor Samran told The Phuket News today (Apr 2).
“We will also ramp up our campaign for people not to dump garbage or release untreated wastewater into the canal,” he said.
“For the long-term solution, as the canal receives wastewater from villages and markets in both Wichit and Chalong (subdistricts), the municipalities for both areas must together be held responsible.
“So I have instructed Chalong Municipal Deputy Palad (Deputy Chief Administration Officer) Chainiwat Saisuwan to coordinate with Wichit Municipality. We will discuss this together for a long-term solution as fast as we can,” Mayor Samran said.
“We must find a long-term solution to this, including creating awareness among local people and government agencies involved, to help solve the problem,” he noted.
“We must resolve this before it is too late. If it is not resolved, this will cause serious environmental damage,” he added.