Thailand Environment Monitor 2001

Water Quality   Launch: 2001 Number of pages: 34 Download Report:     English (962kb pdf)    Thai Version (990kb pdf)

Preface

The Thailand Environment Monitor series -initiated in 2000 presents a snapshot of key environmental trends in the country. Its purpose is to engage and inform stakeholders of key environmental changes as they occur. Using charts and graphs, the 2000 Monitor benchmarked trends in various environmental indicators associated with water and air quality, and natural resources conservation. Environmental changes, however, occur over a period of time, and therefore, unlike economic indicators, annual variations are not easy to measure or assess. Thus, the series is designed to track changes in general environmental trends every 5 years. In the intervening years, the Monitor will focus on specific themes each year, to highlight critical and emerging problems. Water quality is the focus of the 2001 Monitor.

Why water? With thirty percent of all available water not suitable for most human activities, water availability is one of Thailand’s most critical environmental issues. In terms of annual per capita availability of renewable water resources, Thailand ranks the  lowest in Asia, and lower than the world average.

Domestic sewage, industrial effluents, and agricultural run-off all contribute to increasing pollution of surface, coastal, and ground water. Despite 90 percent access to public water supplies, contamination is particularly severe in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. According to preliminary estimates, water pollution is estimated to cost between 0.6 and 1% of the GDP, annually.

The lack of an integrated approach combined with poorly enforced laws, weak capacity and insufficient investments, have exacerbated the pollution of Thailand’s waters. Limited community participation, and the low involvement of the private sector has pushed the onus onto the government in addressing this issue.

The assessment of water quality is based on the evaluation of three main parameters: Biochemical Oxygen Demand; Dissolved Oxygen; and Total Coliform Bacteria. These parameters were chosen based on the availability of data at both the regional and national level. In the Water Quality Scorecard, these indicators have been benchmarked to form the basis against which future changes in water quality will be measured.

The information contained in the Monitor has been obtained from  a variety of sources including published reports of government agencies, universities and nongovernmental organizations, unpublished data from individuals, and documents of the World Bank.

The Environment Monitor 2001 is broadly divided into the following six sections (i) Thailand Water Quality Overview; (ii) Costs of Water Pollution; (iii) Regional Water Quality; (iv) Water Policies and Laws; (v) Physical Investments in Water; and (vi) Spending on Water Pollution Control. Water quality reporting is based around the five administrative regions of Thailand -Central, Eastern, Northern, Northeastern and Southern.

To address water pollution, Thailand needs to develop an integrated approach for the management of surface and groundwater resources. This will involve fostering local community participation in water resources management; harmonizing functions and laws by addressing overlaps in institutions and jurisdiction, and gradually decentralizing functions to local governments; strengthening compliance with environmental standards, by providing incentives for pollution control; improving the efficiency of budget allocation and rationalize investments for the wastewater sector, promoting opportunities for private sector participation, and; increasing public awareness about the state of water quality.