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A Thai volunteer, left, pours detergent as others sweep a road during a cleaning drive after floodwaters receded in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011.
Nonthaburi residents demand action
The Nation November 21, 2011 1:03 am
Some 300 Nonthaburi residents yesterday demonstrated outside city hall for immediate solutions to the stillhigh floodwaters paralysing their province for months.
The rally began before noon but the protestors later dismissed an provisional promise given by a deputy government official, saying that they believed he was not authorised to press for their demands.
The group wanted authorities to halt flood prevention work on Route 340 and use it as a channel to drain floodwaters out to estuaries, saying Rama II Road to the South was still passable.
Thai volunteers take part in a clean-up along a major road in Bangkok on November 20, 2011.
The group, representing residents in the three heavilyflooded districts of Bang Bua Thong, Bang Kruay and Sai Noi, later blocked Rattanathibet Road, causing heavy traffic congestion in the province.
In the late evening, the road was jammed down to Khae Rai Intersection and up to Nang Klao Bridge.
The protestors later met with Governor Wichean Phutthiwinyoo, who promised to push for six more pumps on Maha Sawat Canal to expel more water westward out of the province.
They dispersed but vowed to converge again tomorrow if floodwaters did not recede to a satisfactory level.
The residents also threatened to open all Maha Sawat floodgates themselves if their three other conditions were not met - repair of Bang Bua Thaong barriers, no floodwater in the three districts after December 1, and additional pay on top of the Bt5,000perhousehold compensation granted by the government.
Residents in Bangkok's Don Muang district also gathered at the Sri Saman expressway entrance to submit three demands to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration including to open the floodgates in front of Thewa Sunthorn Temple in drain the water from Don Mueang Airport.
The two others were to install 30 more pumps to discharge water from Lak Hok Canal to Ban Mai Canal and study the possibility of opening a section of the big bag barrier in the Rangsit area, along with additional payments.
Another Big Cleaning Day was held for a stretch of Charan Sanitwong Road in Bangkok’s Bang Phlat district with thousands of residents volunteering. About 1,700 tonnes of garbage were collected from flooded sois on both sides but 1,000 tonnes remained, as well as one million empty sandbags awaiting disposal.
Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who joined the event, said the BMA could not comply with a recent request from Nonthaburi authorities to lower floodgates along a sixkilometre section of the boundary between the province and Bangkok.
That would result in other waterways overflowing and letting 7.5 million more cubic metres to flow into Bangkok, which might leave the Thon Buri side underwater for much longer, he said.
Pongsapat Pongcharoen, spokesman of the government's Flood Relief Operations Centre, said the idea of giving more money, on top of the Bt5,000 blanket grant, to flood victims suffering more severely - for example staying submerged longer than new victims - could be possibly tabled soon.
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Thailand floods: half a million mud balls being used to purify water - Telegraph
Thailand floods: half a million mud balls being used to purify water
Alarmed by the rising stench of fetid flood waters and the health hazard they pose, Thais are attempting to combat the problem by seeding the polluted deluge with mud balls designed to eradicate the dangerous bacteria.
Thai residents use boats for transportation on the flooded streets in the Bang Kruai district Photo: EPA
By Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
2:47PM GMT 20 Nov 2011
Tennis ball-sized spheres of mud and organic material, laced with effective microorganisms (EM), are being tossed into the stagnant waters in the hope they will purify it.
The Thai government, private companies and relief groups have been distributing EM balls to the public as well as spraying the flood water with EM in liquid form.
The Japanese company that developed mud balls, EM Research Organisation (EMRO), says they have already been used effectively in ponds and reservoirs. But it is uncertain if they will work with such large-scale flooding, Thailand's worst in half a century that has left 595 people dead.
One charitable group, the Royal Self-Sufficiency Project, has already produced 100,000 mud balls and is one course to make half a million of the spheres which will each purify 4 sq metres of polluted water.
With the help of the Thai army, EMRO is also distributing the effective microorganisms in liquid to anyone who requests it. Twenty thousand litres are being handed out daily to people who turn up with one or two litre bottles.
The mud balls are made up of a culture of microbes that includes lactic acid bacteria, yeasts and phototrophic bacteria, as well as molasses, dried dirt and organic material like rice.
The balls work by establishing a rich culture of beneficial microorganisms, thus preventing the development of large concentrations of bad microorganisms.
However, opinion is divided on whether the mud balls can be effective on such a massive body of water and some are demanding that a study needs to be carried out.
"Some people believe that EM might be most effective used on small quantities of enclosed water," said Pathom Sawanpanyalert, deputy director-general of the medical sciences department at the Public Health ministry. "If it's in a very well-controlled environment, it might be efficacious. But used in a real-life situation, whether it's effective or not, that's a bigger question." But some believe Thailand is in an ideal position to find out if it works or not.
"Thailand is the best place to study this now," said Clarie Quillet, a water and sanitation specialist with UN children's group, Unicef. "It doesn't mean we will have a solution right now. But at one stage it could help countries in other parts of the world."
Thailand floods: half a million mud balls being used to purify water
Alarmed by the rising stench of fetid flood waters and the health hazard they pose, Thais are attempting to combat the problem by seeding the polluted deluge with mud balls designed to eradicate the dangerous bacteria.
Thai residents use boats for transportation on the flooded streets in the Bang Kruai district Photo: EPA
By Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
2:47PM GMT 20 Nov 2011
Tennis ball-sized spheres of mud and organic material, laced with effective microorganisms (EM), are being tossed into the stagnant waters in the hope they will purify it.
The Thai government, private companies and relief groups have been distributing EM balls to the public as well as spraying the flood water with EM in liquid form.
The Japanese company that developed mud balls, EM Research Organisation (EMRO), says they have already been used effectively in ponds and reservoirs. But it is uncertain if they will work with such large-scale flooding, Thailand's worst in half a century that has left 595 people dead.
One charitable group, the Royal Self-Sufficiency Project, has already produced 100,000 mud balls and is one course to make half a million of the spheres which will each purify 4 sq metres of polluted water.
With the help of the Thai army, EMRO is also distributing the effective microorganisms in liquid to anyone who requests it. Twenty thousand litres are being handed out daily to people who turn up with one or two litre bottles.
The mud balls are made up of a culture of microbes that includes lactic acid bacteria, yeasts and phototrophic bacteria, as well as molasses, dried dirt and organic material like rice.
The balls work by establishing a rich culture of beneficial microorganisms, thus preventing the development of large concentrations of bad microorganisms.
However, opinion is divided on whether the mud balls can be effective on such a massive body of water and some are demanding that a study needs to be carried out.
"Some people believe that EM might be most effective used on small quantities of enclosed water," said Pathom Sawanpanyalert, deputy director-general of the medical sciences department at the Public Health ministry. "If it's in a very well-controlled environment, it might be efficacious. But used in a real-life situation, whether it's effective or not, that's a bigger question." But some believe Thailand is in an ideal position to find out if it works or not.
"Thailand is the best place to study this now," said Clarie Quillet, a water and sanitation specialist with UN children's group, Unicef. "It doesn't mean we will have a solution right now. But at one stage it could help countries in other parts of the world."
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