More oxygen for the Chao Phraya
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will install 16 aerators in canals connecting Bangkok with adjacent provinces as the latest measure in tackling the polluted water in the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin said Monday.
the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) has reported the contaminated water was sixto eight kilometres from Pathum Thani.
The aerators are in addition to previous measures of closing all sluice gates to lessen the impact from the contaminated water flowing from Angthong and Ayutthaya, where thousands of farmed fish and river life were killed by the polluted water early last week.
The city governor urged city residents to only use tap water and said the Chao Phraya River in the city currently had a dissolved oxygen (DO) level of two to three milligrams per litre (mg/l) which was considered normal.
Apirak said the recent massive inflows of seawater also meant that the main body of polluted water will reach Pathum Thani today (March 20).
RID spokesman Boonsanong Suchatpong said the polluted water - now at Wat Trairatwittaya in Ayutthaya's Bang Sai district where the DO level was at 1.74mg/l - was about seven kilometres from Pathum Thani.
The department will speed up the installation of the Chaipattana Foundation aerators - given to RID by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, he said.
Five aerators would be installed at Ayutthaya's Bang Sai Royal Folks Arts and Crafts Center, five at Pathum Thani's Muang district, and ten in Nonthaburi.
Ayutthaya Governor Cherdphan na Songkla said meanwhile he had hired a private company to add more oxygen to the river, which should ease the impact on Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, and Bangkok.
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