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ADB SUPPORTS SOUND WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT IN THAILAND

Manila, Philippines (17 November 2000) - In a press statement today, the Asian Development Bank said that Thailand had adopted a sound strategy to manage wastewater in a $750 million project in the province of Samut Prakarn.

The ADB was responding to a press statement released by the environmental group Greenpeace on 13 November questioning the effectiveness of the Thai Government's Samut Prakarn Wastewater Management Project. ADB agrees that environmental issues need to be dealt with effectively; it has contacted Greenpeace and requested details of their analysis in order to understand and address their concerns.

The pioneering project, which is being partly financed by ADB ($230 million), aims to improve the environment in one of Thailand's most polluted provinces. It is designed to manage industrial, commercial, and residential wastewater that currently flows to the sea through open canals and rivers in a heavily populated area posing health hazards for up to a million people and pollutes large stretches of coastal areas in the Gulf of Thailand.

This project has adopted an integrated approach that tackles wastewater pollution both at source and final treatment point. First, the project is helping industries to adopt pollution prevention practices and improve on-site management. So far, over 300 industries have committed to participate in a cleaner production and industrial efficiency program aimed at reducing wastewater generation, energy use, and pollutant loads by 20 percent. Second, a polluter-pays principle has been adopted to provide industry with incentives to reduce pollution while sustaining a viable operation. Industry will bear 80 percent of the costs of treating wastewater; the remaining 20 percent will be split between commercial and residential beneficiaries. Third, the project provides support for revisions to environmental regulations to control industrial discharges. Taken together, these initiatives represent a significant attempt to proactively minimize wastewater pollution.

The project also includes the collection and treatment of domestic and pre-treated industrial wastewater. The treatment plant, which is only one component of the management strategy supported by the project, is designed to treat wastewater after industry has minimized it and pre-treated it to remove toxic elements in accordance with Thai Government standards. Under the project, the pre-treated industrial wastewater will be collected by sewer pipes and carried to a treatment plant that is designed to further decompose and purify up to 525,000 cubic meters of wastewater a day.

The design of the treatment plant, and its technology, has been successfully adopted elsewhere and has been endorsed by two review panels that included world-class experts. In September 1998, a panel reviewed the treatment plant design to optimize system operability. The panel included Dr. Glen Daigger, Vice President of the American Water Environment Federation. Again, in October 1999, a technical panel that included Professor Wesley Eckenfelder, a world-renowned expert in process design, concluded that the project design is appropriate to the situation. Specifically, the design's flexibility in accommodating a wide range of pollution loads is considered one of its strong points.

Against this background, ADB believes that the Thai Government's approach to the wastewater management problem in Samut Prakarn is technically sound and will help to improve the environment.

The Thai Government and ADB are also actively addressing the concerns of the predominantly fishing and mussel-farming Klong Daan community, about 2 kilometers from the treatment plant site. The concerns relate principally to the environmental impact of the treated wastewater on fish and mussel-farming activities, and the odor from the treatment plant. Environmental testing and modelling of discharging the treated wastewater has established the need for a buffer zone around the outfall. Some fishing licences may need to be revoked within the buffer zone and the Government is committed to providing compensation to those farmers who might be affected. Studies have been conducted to develop means to minimize odor. Odor levels will be monitored during initial operation, and measures adopted to control odor if it exceeds acceptable limits.

In addition, ADB is providing technical assistance to the Government aimed at furthering awareness and development of the Klong Daan community. This will address issues of community perceptions of the project, and the means of compensation for any demonstrable environmental or socioeconomic impact. ADB is also facilitating a dialogue on environmental and social issues between the Klong Daan community and the Thai Government.

ADB appreciates the valuable role played by Greenpeace and other NGO groups in raising issues of environmental concern and in enhancing public awareness of such issues. ADB attempts to reflect this awareness in its work with the Thai Government and civil society at large in developing appropriate solutions to pressing environmental problems. Conservation of the environment and the adoption of measures that proactively prevent environmental degradation form the cornerstone of ADB's environmental policies. Indeed, ADB pursues sustainable development in an environmentally sensitive way and, in that context, looks forward to dialogue with all members of civil society.

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