Repairs to a neglected Najomtien sewage-pumping system will take a month with residents asked to be patient with the smell and pollution fouling a local beach.
Black sewage started pouring out the drainage pipe on the beach at Soi Najomtien 8, creating a kilometer-long slick of putrid, black pollution in the water.
Najomtien officials ordered the sewers pumped out twice a week and repairs begun on broken internal pumps that had been neglected for a year, causing their breakdown.
But fixes will take a month, leaving the beach fouled and residents living along a swamp wastewater canal reeling from the stink.
The sub-district said it will cover the ends of 12 drainage pipes with sand bags to block wastewater from spilling onto the beaches again.
Thirty-year resident Boonying Supanwong, 60, bemoaned the pollution which has gone on for two years. He said the pollution has affected the Moo 1 fishing community, home to many generations of people living off the sea. About 500 families in the village live along a canal behind Wat Najomtien that was once a safe harbor but is now a polluted khlong, which just got worse with the spill.
Boonying said the sub-district has done virtually nothing to address the environmental impact of a surging population and the opening of new businesses in Moo 1 village.
In the meantime, officials have dumped EM Balls into the water to help reduce the smell.
