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Published on April 25, 2008

The Chao Phya River becomes vulnerable to pollution during the dry season every year. In March of last year, tens of thousands of dead fish were found floating in the Chao Phya River around Ang Thong and Ayutthaya. The mass deaths were caused by the waste discharged from several hundred factories that line the area. The incident showed how human carelessness is capable of causing severe damage to the environment and the river.

Being the nation's main river, the Chao Phya has been the country's major transport route and a source of life for millions of people and animals. However, every year, a large amount of waste is discharged into the water. Angthong, where 436 factories are located, saw the amount of waste discharged into the river reach 50,000 cubic metres.

The dry season makes matters worse as it could take a few weeks for the waste to be diluted. Therefore, the government should impose strict controls on waste discharge to prevent river pollution from reaching a critical level. People should also be properly educated so that they can learn how to use water efficiently. Although there are several factories in Angthong, the Pollution Control Department showed that the majority of the waste, or 70 per cent of wastewater, came from people in nearby communities, 18 per cent from factories and 12 per cent from the agricultural sector.

Last year, the pollution caused by the factories at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate made headlines due to the lack of measures to protect and control the discharge of waste there. The government should address this problem by seriously looking into measures to ensure that the public and factories minimise the amount of waste they dump into the river. Otherwise, the glorious scene of the pristine river will become a part of history.