Pattaya hired Kasetsart University to study and design a new sewage-treatment system for the city, a project delayed for years even as the current system has broken down and failed to keep up with the city’s growth.
Pattaya sanitation chief Anuwat Thongkum chaired a Feb. 18 public hearing on the hiring of a consultant at The Siamese Hotel in Chonburi.
The study will evaluate and recommend how to improve the efficiency of wastewater collection and treatment in Pattaya.
Kasetsart University was chosen for analytical study, design of a construction plan and a budget. The new system would need to cover all areas of Pattayaand Jomtien Beach and last for at least 20 years. Naklua is covered by a different system.
Pongsakorn Phanpanit, a wastewater-collection system specialist at Kasetsart, noted Pattaya has two sewage-treatment plants, one on Soi Nongyai built in 2000 that can treat only 65,000 cubic meters a day, and the Jomtien station, which can handle 43,000 cu. meters a day.
Pattaya has a registered population of 209,000 people – although many hundreds of thousands unregistered Thais and expats live in the city – with the registered number expected to grow 20% in 20 years.
Meanwhile, it’s hoped tourists will increase to 19.9 million a year from 2019’s 11.5 million.
Expectedly, the amount of sewage produced will be at least 1.7 million cubic meters a day. That means Pattaya’s current system could handle only 6.4% of that.
After the study is completed in July, Pattaya will hold three public hearings to discuss the findings and recommendations.
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