Andaman Sea found to be best quality in Thailand

BANGKOK, January 7 (TNA) - A latest survey by Thailand's Pollution Control Department, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, has found that the quality of the Andaman Sea is the best in the country in terms of the cleanliness. Reporting on the pollution situation in Thailand in 2015, Pollution Control Department Director-General Wijarn Simachaya said on Thursday that the quality of most Thai seas, or 72 of them, were fine, with the Andaman Sea in the Thai South found to be the best. Wijarn told journalists that the upper part of the Ta Pi River in the Thai South was also found to have the best quality among Thai rivers. Wijarn acknowledged that air pollution inspections carried out in 29 Thai provinces showed a one per cent improvement in 2015 from 2014, but 23 provinces still had an average air pollution at 153 microgrammes per cubic metre, higher than the standard safety level of 120 microgrammes per cubic metre. According to the senior official, Saraburi Province in the central region was slated the highest with air pollution at 150 days, followed by Lampang Province in the Thai North at 89 days, Samut Prakan Province next to Bangkok at 81 days, Bangkok at 74 days and Khon Kaen Province in the Thai Northeast at 70 days. The senior official attributed the air pollution to factories, stone mills, burning in open grounds and traffic in the affected areas. The senior official also revealed that a total of 26.9 million tonnes of wastes were created in Thailand last year, or about 73,700 tonnes daily on average or about 1.11 kilogrammes per person per day, a 3 per cent year-on-year increase, with Bangkok generating the highest volume of wastes at 10,800 tonnes daily, followed by Chon Buri Province in the Thai East at 2,398 tonnes daily. (TNA)