Pattaya officials must act against small businesses that are dumping raw sewage directly into flood drains to prevent another embarrassing overflow, the city’s business group said.
Ekasit Ngampichet, president of the Pattaya Business & Tourism Association, said Aug. 30 that while Pattaya’s large hotels and other businesses have installed their own wastewater-treatment equipment, smaller firms are flushing untreated waste directly into the city’s flood-drainage pipelines.
Over time, this leads to blockages that causes pumps to break and sewage to spill out onto area beaches and local waters, as happened after heavy rain in mid-July.
Exacerbating the problem, he said, is the sorry state of Pattaya’s main sewage-treatment plant, which has not been properly maintained over the past decade and now operates at less than full potential.
Ekasit said the July 11-12 incident that blackened Pattaya Beach resulted in water that was 70 percent over the limit for what is considered safe to swim in. It drew the attention of the media, which in turn sparked an inquiry from the central government and damaged Pattaya’s tourism image.
Ekasit said Pattaya must fix the treatment plants and go after illegal dumpers. At the same time, the business group is setting up a project to educate businesses on wastewater issues.
Pattaya officials previously told the PBTA that the city council is aware of the urgent need for treatment plant upgrades and has requested 458 million baht from the government under the Eastern Economic Corridor initiative to both complete repairs and increase plant capacity.
However, those funds have not been approved and there is no timetable for when they will be.
