On October 21st, a group of residents from Apple
Village came in to the offices of Pattaya Mail and pleaded for help,
saying that the entrance to their housing project has been flooded with
polluted water for years.
They said they have to bear the noxious odour of the water every night
and day, and even though they had tried many times to drain the water
with pumps, the area was lower than the surrounding earth and the water
would just collect again.
They also reported that there was a drainage pipe at the entrance to the
soi, and that the waste water from houses would flow through this pipe
and run to the end of the soi. Since the drainage pipes were not laid
properly, the water never drains away in a proper manner. When there is
no rain, the stink is almost unbearable. When it does rain, rainwater
mixes with the polluted water and rushes into residential housing.
Residents added that the owner of this housing project, a Mr. Phiches,
stated in the contract that he would build a traffic circle at the end
of the Soi for the convenience of residents. Yet, when the housing
project was finished, there was no traffic circle and the type of
drainage pipes stated in the contract were not built.
They said they have asked for help from many of the different Pattaya
City Councils over the past ten years, but to no avail. The only advice
they have received from Pattaya City Council was to sell their houses.
The residents have wanted to move, but don’t have enough money to buy
new houses. When they try to sell the houses, potential buyers, seeing
the polluted water, lose interest immediately. They said they will sell
them to the City Council at very special prices if they think this is
the only solution.
The reason residents are calling for help now is that the City Council
has plans to lay drainage pipes at the entrance of the Soi, and as long
as they were in the area, residents would like to get the construction
company to fix the pipes so residents would not have to live with the
sludge filled, disease ridden muck any longer.
