Mitigation and Prevention ofGroundwater Pollution fromIndustry in Thailand

Chayawee Wangcharoenrung Ph.D.
Director of Industrial Wastewater Division,Pollution Control Department, Thailand
12th International Symposium on Southeast Asian Water
Environment (SEAWE12) November, 28 - 30, Hanoi, Vietnam

Presentation Points

Overview of Groundwater Problem
Measures Applied
Future Measures

9 River Basin Group of Thailand
25 basins to 9 groups
2

1. Khong River Basin
1

2. Salawin River Basin
3. Chao Phraya – Thachin River Basin

35476

4. Mae Klong River Basin
5. Bang Prakong River Basin
6. East-Coast Gulf River Basin
7. West-Coast Gulf River Basin
8. Peninsula East-Coast Gulf River Basin

98

9. Peninsula West-Coast Gulf River BasinNeed for Water of Thailand(DGR 2007)
Water Needs (million m3/year)
Basin Group

Agricultural 95%

Household3%

Industrial
1%

Non Irr Zone

Irr Zone

1. Khong River Basin

1,206.28

178.7739,040.84

5,211.82

2. Salawin River Basin

23.89

6.07

256.4347.31

3. Chao Phraya – Thachin River Basin

1,496.23

1,217.96

30,756.79

19,932.54

4. Mae Klong River Basin

110.86117.983,787.31

1,934.88

5. Bang Prakong River Basin

124.11

187.64

3,171.20

1,442.98

6. East-Coast Gulf River Basin

107.73345.79577.41

301.32

7. West-Coast Gulf River Basin

63.41

21.80

934.73

1,164.43

8. Peninsula East-Coast Gulf River Basin

360.56123.33

1,055.50

2,038.09

9. Peninsula West-Coast Gulf River Basin

108.8827.53

180.87146.31

3,601.96

2,226.86

79,761.07

32,219.68

Total

GroundWater Usage(DGR 2007)
Groundwater Usage (million m3/year)
RegionHouseholdIndustrial

Agricultural

1. Northern Region

262.9356.97

359.01

2. Central and Eastern Region

296.85435.24338.34

3. North- Southeastern Region

210.9021.62

352.62

4. South- Southeastern Region

175.7925.37

234.895. Western and Southern Region

266.34163.55146.291,212.81(33.61%)702.76(31.55%)

1,431.16(1.2%)

Total(2.8%)

Percentage of GW used comparing with total need by sector

Overview of Groundwater
ProblemGeneral Groundwater Problem
Currently
DepartmentofGroundwater
Resource is the one responsible for groundwater
monitoring,
norequirement
forlocalgovernment to monitor.
RegionProblem Found

Northern Region

Iron, Fluoride

Central Region

TDS at deep level, Iron,
Manganese, ArsenicNortheastern Region

Iron, Manganese, Sulfate, Chloride,Hardness, TDS

Eastern Region

Chloride, TDS, Iron

Southern Region

Chloride, Hardness due tolimestone

ContaminatedSITESin Thailand

2415

In 2014 Health Impact Assessment
Coordinating Unit of National
Health Commission Office ofThailand have published a bookcalled “Contaminated Thailand”
which summarized most of wellknown contaminated site majorityof which are brownfield. It can beclassified as,

36• Former and active mining sites• Former and active industrial sites• Illegal dumping siteFamous Mining Sites – 1. Klithy CreekKlithy Creek is one of the most famouscontaminated site in Thailand located on
the western part of the country just on
the border between Thailand andMyanmar.
It was discovered in 1998 that the leadsmelter plant, began operation since
1967, discharged its tailing water to thecreek and cause local people sickness.
Lead level in the creek’s sediment is up to1,000 times of the standard. The company
dissolved away hence the site becomebrownfield. Court order PCD to do
remediation. Full remediation begins thisyear.

Famous Mining Sites – 2. TongkahHarbour Minng
Tongkah Harbour is leading gold mining
company in Thailand located in Leui province
on border of Laos and Thailand. Began its
operation in 1995.

It was found in 2004 that creek surrounding
the site and groundwater has elevated level ofmanganese, iron, and arsenic up to 80 times ofthe standard. This lead to local people
protested and blocked traffic to the mine until
the license is expired.
The site is still under investigation andremediation is proposed from Department ofPrimary Industry.

Famous Industrial Sites – 3. Makkasan
Factory
Makkasan factory belongs to State
Railway of Thailand as train repair
workshop located in the center ofBangkok since 1910. During the period ofworld war in 1943, most operation of thefactory was moved due to safety concern
on bombing. It is still under light use
until 1982 when there is a proposal to
move the factory completely.
A study was conducted 4 years ago on
redeveloping the site. However; since all
options require a large sum of money.
Stat Railway of Thailand has not makeany decision.

Famous Illegal Dumping Sites –4. Klang Dong Site
8,700 barrels of chemicals were found tobe illegally dumped at Klang Dong,
Nakaronratchasima province, middle
region of Thailand, in Sept 2004
Ministry of Industry ordered an
immediate move of barrels and clean upof soil. It is later found that groundwater
is contaminated with trichloroethylene up
to 600 times of the standard. Pollution
Control Department and Department ofGround Water Resource still keep track
on of contamination plume until now.
Although the remediation method wasstudied but no funding to do so.

Famous Illegal Dumping Sites –4. Klang Dong SiteFebruary 2007

June 2009

Credit: Department of Groundwater Resource

June 2007

February 2010

Famous Illegal Dumping Sites –5. Nong Nae Site
Local people in Nong Nae area,
Chachengsao province, central Thailand,
noticed unusual transportation of waste
in the area since 2007. It later found thatmany waste processing company illegally
dump liquid waste in many ponds in thearea and resulting in wide spade soil andgroundwater contamination

Department of Groundwater Resource and Pollution Control
Department has investigate and found high level of Phenols
and Phthalate contamination up to 14 times of the standard.
Local people sued Department of Industrial Works toresponsible for remediation.

Famous Industrial Site
– 6. Map Ta Phut•••

Located at Rayong province in theeastern part of Thailand
Fifth largest petrochemical complex
in the world
Found contamination of VOCs such
as Trichloroethylene and 1,2Dichloroethane up to 15 times of thestandard

HEMARAJEASTERN(43 )MAP TA PHUT
(65 )RIL(8 )

ASIA(8 )PADAENG(4 )MAP TA PHUT PORT(10 )Famous Industrial Site
– 6. Map Ta Phut
1,2 Dichloroethane (ppb)

Trichloroethane (ppb)

Measures Applied

Measures Applied
For Thailand, measures applied for contaminated sites can be
categorized as,

Risk management

Regulation

Remediation

Risk management• Issue a warning on groundwater quality problem• Clean up groundwater well
• Provide alternative sources of water i.e. move to tap water,
provide clean waterRisk management
There are many programs on raisingawareness on soil and groundwatercontamination
problemduringinspection.

Regulation• Soon after first soil and groundwater incident was found –Groundwater and Soil Standard were set.
• A study on what kind of policy is suitable for Thailand is
performed by PCD.

DamageAssessment Manual

Remediation
ManualRisk Assessment
ManualRegulation
Using case of Map Ta Phut soil and groundwatercontamination and other locations as example

National Environmental Committee entrusted Ministry ofIndustry to propose a preventive measure such is routine
monitoring. A monitoring and remediation requirement forfactory is proposed since 2012.

Remediation
Many site identified was actively remediated by many teams
and using many technique under cooperation among
governmental agencies.

Phytoremediation of VCM near landfill site using vetiver grassRemediation

Bioremediation of VCM near landfill site

Remediation

SVE System experiment on 1,2 Dichloroethane
Contamination on petrochemical factoryFuture Measures

Soil and Groundwater Monitoring
Requirement
Ministry of Industry Decree on Soil and GroundwaterContamination Control B.E. 2559 (2016) (Effective : October 2016)

Principle
Business Owner must

“contaminants” covered

1) collect soil and groundwater sample2) manage that contamination found is notexceeding specified level1) Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
2) Heavy Metals
3) Pesticide and insecticide

Factory

Factory must propose

1) must collect sample for the first time within 180 days
after this regulation effective and must compile amonitoring report within 180 days after monitoring.
2) must collect sample on second time within 180 days
after the first inspection and must submit a report
within 120 days.

contamination control
measure and contamination
reduction measure and makea within 180 days after
problem has been found.

Economic Instrument
Many of the regulation will be updated to incorporate economic
instrument

FutureEnvironmental Act• change environmental fund rule such that it
can be used for contaminated area
remediation.

Future Factory Act• include environmental damage insurance
concept where the insurance money can becollected after the factory has proved that they
are not causing environmental contamination

Future MineralAct• allow environmental impact fund to be usedfor preventive measures.

Capacity Building
Cooperation program on contaminated area between Thailand’s
government agencies and international organization2010 - Current ReSAGPAC WG Taiwan

2014 - Shell
2009 - 2010 IGES Japan

Information Disclosure
Development and Implementation of Pollution Release and Transfer
Registered System (PRTR) with cooperation with Japanese
Government (JICA)
PRTR is Public Database on type and amount of pollutants that releasefrom various pollution sources to the environment such as air, water andsoil including pollution such as wastewater and waste that transferfrom factories or business for treatment.
 PRTR Data will be open for public access at some level
 Release and transfer report will be in the form of loading (for example – kg
pollution/ year) NOT in form of concentration.
 Stimulate public engagement and serve as voluntary pollution reduction
mechanism

Concluding Remarks
For Thailand case – contaminated area &groundwater pollution problem has received a
lot of attention recently.
Most of environmental related regulations
have not been updated for years and they are
not made to deal with such issue.
Revision to many regulations to deal with theproblem is proposed, some just begin toeffective but some will take longer time.
Hope that we can have “Soil, Groundwaterand Sediment Contamination CountermeasureAct” in the futureThank Youfor Your Kind Attention