Sattahip officials are investigating the cause of suspected water contamination believed responsible for sending at least 600 residents to the hospital with stomach ailments.
District Water Supply Department officials on Sept. 7 tested the area’s water-storage tank to determine if it was contaminated with chemicals or some other agent that also caused resident fish to die. While authorities were still waiting for test results, they ruled out that the dead fish themselves were cause of the ailments, as fish typically can be found in hard-water storage tanks and thrive there.
Officials inspect Sattahip’s water supply for contaminants following an outbreak of stomach illnesses late last month.
However, many of the fish died, probably due to a lack of oxygen in the tank. Officials ordered the dead fish removed, put in plastic bags with alum and then disposed of at a local dump.
Around the same time, in late August, 610 Sattahip residents poured into Queen Sirikit Naval Medical Center, Apakorn Kiatwong Hospital and Sattahip Hospital, complaining of stomach aches and vomiting. Affected were 163 teachers and students from Sattahip Navy School, 83 from the Singhsamut School, 37 from Sattahip High School, 44 from Lerdpannya School, 52 from Ban Sattahip School, 48 from Navikyoburana School, and 49 from Sattahip Naval Fleet School. Another 183 area residents also went to the hospital.
Health officials suspect hundreds more suffered milder symptoms not requiring hospitalization.
The sick people overwhelmingly blamed the water supply, which they said had been dirty, smelly and tasting of chlorine for the previous two weeks. After the load of plastic bags containing dead fish and alum were found, residents quickly jumped to the conclusion they’d been poisoned.
Garbage collector Mit Kaenduang confirmed to local officials Sept. 7 that someone with a Toyota truck had been dumping bags of the alum-treated dead fish in the dump for the past two weeks. Public health officials took samples back for testing.
Anek Wetpan, Water Supply Department general manager, acknowledged that fish had been dumped there after being removed from the water-storage tank.
One possible cause of water contamination, officials said, was broken underground pipes and repair work. From Aug. 27-29 there were approximately 20 areas undergoing repairs, they said. Broken pipes can allow contaminants to get into the water supply.
Other residents accused the KO Ice House and the Poh Pak Sod restaurant, both owned by 47-year-old Angkana Saengpetch. In a campaign carried out mostly on social media, affected residents blamed the ice from KO, which supplies affected schools and neighborhoods.
Sattahip Public Health Department officials, however, said KO’s ice was not made from the water in the main tank. However, samples were taken and are being tested and the company was ordered to stop production until results are known.
Angkana said she was confident her ice was not responsible for the sickness, as some of the affected schools are not her customers, she said. Nonetheless, she noted, her business has fallen off substantially.
