Content 1. Preface Public Disclosure Authorized 2. Methodology 3. Abbreviations and Acronyms 4. Water Quality : Surfacing Concerns 5. Hot Spot Map 6. Surface Water Quality Scorecard 8. Thailand Water Quality Overview 11. Costs of Polluted Water 13. Regional Water Quality Public Disclosure Authorized 13. Central Region 15. Eastern Region 17. Northern Region 19. Northeastern Region 21. Southern Region 23 Water Policies and Laws 26. Physical Investments in Water Public Disclosure Authorized 29. Spending on Water Pollution Control 31. Glossary of Environmental Terms 32. Thailand's Water Quality Classification and Definitions Thailand at a Glance BANGKOK,JUNE2001 Thailand This document was prepared by a World Bank Team led by Patchamuthu Illangovan and Manida Environment Unkulvasapaul, and comprised of Anjali Acharya, Giovanna Dore, Benoit Laplante, Watcharee Monitor 2000 Limanon, Priya Mathur, Craig Meisner, John Morton and Sitiporn Kajornatiyudh. Dr. Siripen presented Supakankunti and Dr. Pirus Pradithavanij of Chulalongkorn University undertook a background study a snapshot on estimating economic and health costs of water pollution. Kanchalika Klad-Angkul coordinated of general preparation and production. Jeffrey Lecksell was responsible for map design. Inputs and comments from Carter Brandon, Elisabetta Capannelli, Ejaz Ghani, David Hanrahan, Vijay Jagannathan and Public Disclosure Authorized environmental trends in the David Wheeler of the World Bank, are acknowledged. Supported provided by Chittrakarn country Bunchandranon, Nat Pinnoi and Sutthana Vichitrananda are appreciated. Data, information and support provided by the Water Quality Division of the Pollution Control Department is appreciated. Cover and layout design by Paritat Tiphayakul. The views expressed in the Thailand Environment Monitor are entirely those of the authors and should not be cited without prior permission. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank Group, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. The material contained herein has been obtained from sources believed reliable but it is not necessarily complete and cannot be guaranteed. World Bank Office Bangkok 93/1 Wireless Road Diethelm Tower 14th Floor Tower A Bangkok 10330 Thailand Tel.(662) 256-7792 Fax.(662) 256-7794-5 The World Bank Group 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington,D.C. 20433 U.S.A. Tel. (202)477-1234 Fax.(202)477-6391 http://www.worldbank.org prefacE The Thailand Environment Monitor series -initiated The assessment of water quality is based on in 2000 -presents a snapshot of key environmental the evaluation of three main parameters: Biochemi- trends in the country. Its purpose is to engage and cal Oxygen Demand; Dissolved Oxygen; and Total inform stakeholders of key environmental changes Coliform Bacteria. These parameters were chosen as they occur. Using charts and graphs, the 2000 based on the availability of data at both the regional Monitor benchmarked trends in various environmental and national level. In the Water Quality Scorecard, indicators associated with water and air quality, and these indicators have been benchmarked to form the natural resources conservation. Environmental basis against which future changes in water quality changes, however, occur over a period of time, and will be measured. therefore, unlike economic indicators, annual vari- The information contained in the Monitor has ations are not easy to measure or assess. Thus, the been obtained from a variety of sources including series is designed to track changes in general envi- published reports of government agencies, universities ronmental trends every 5 years. In the intervening and nongovernmental organizations, unpublished years, the Monitor will focus on specific themes each data from individuals, and documents of the World year, to highlight critical and emerging problems. Bank. Water quality is the focus of the 2001 Monitor. The Environment Monitor 2001 is broadly divided Why water? With thirty percent of all available into the following six sections (i) Thailand Water water not suitable for most human activities, water Quality Overview; (ii) Costs of Water Pollution; (iii) availability is one of Thailand’s most critical envi- Regional Water Quality; (iv) Water Policies and ronmental issues. In terms of annual per capita avail- Laws; (v) Physical Investments in Water; and (vi) ability of renewable water resources, Thailand ranks Spending on Water Pollution Control. Water quality the lowest in Asia, and lower than the world average. reporting is based around the five administrative Domestic sewage, industrial effluents, and agri- regions of Thailand -Central, Eastern, Northern, cultural run-off all contribute to increasing pollution Northeastern and Southern. of surface, coastal, and ground water. Despite 90 To address water pollution, Thailand needs to percent access to public water supplies, contamina- develop an integrated approach for the management tion is particularly severe in the Bangkok Metro- of surface and groundwater resources. This will involve politan Region. According to preliminary estimates, fostering local community participation in water water pollution is estimated to cost between 0.6 and resources management; harmonizing functions and 1% of the GDP, annually. laws by addressing overlaps in institutions and ju- The lack of an integrated approach combined risdiction, and gradually decentralizing functions to with poorly enforced laws, weak capacity and in- local governments; strengthening compliance with sufficient investments, have exacerbated the pollution environmental standards, by providing incentives for of Thailand’s waters. Limited community partici- pollution control; improving the efficiency of pation, and the low involvement of the private sector budget allocation and rationalize investments for the has pushed the onus onto the government in address- wastewater sector, promoting opportunities for private ing this issue. sector participation, and; increasing public awareness about the state of water quality. Jayasankar Shivakumar Zafer Ecevit Country Director - Thailand Sector Director, Environment and Social Development, The World Bank The World Bank 1 Methodology Several methodologies were used to capture Agricultural BOD generation estimates. the extent of water pollution, estimate health costs Agricultural generation was calculated as the associated with disease and forecast capital costs BOD loading per area3 multiplied by the agricul- for wastewater treatment. A number of assumptions tural area reported in 1996, and extrapolated to later were made, with some caveats, are listed below: years using agricultural GDP as an indicator.4 Industrial sector BOD and TSS.1 Domestic BOD generation estimates. Estimates were calculated using the Industrial Domestic wastewater generation was calcu- Pollution Projection System (IPPS) developed by lated by multiplying the population base with the the Research Group2 of the World Bank. IPPS ex- BOD factor per person5 developed by the Environ- ploits the fact that industrial pollution is heavily af- mental Policy and Planning Division.6 fected by the scale of industrial activity, its sectoral composition (industrial sector), and the process tech- Health costs of water pollution. nologies which are employed in production. IPPS The data presented in the health costs section combines data from industrial activity (such as em- are based on the recently completed background ployment) with data on actual pollution emissions study Valuing Health and Economic Costs of Water to calculate pollution intensities, i.e. the level of pollu- Pollution in Thailand. tion emissions per unit of industrial activity. Pollu- 1. These estimates are based on costs associated tion intensities for each sector were calculated by with reported cases of three water pollution related combining data from the United States Manufac- diseases -diarrhea, typhoid, and dysentery. In valu- turing Census (employment data) and the US Na- ing the economic costs of these diseases, two types tional Pollution Discharge Elimination System (pol- of costs are considered: (i) direct costs; and (ii) in- lution data). direct costs. Direct costs include medical expenses. The applicability of using US-based estimates Indirect costs include the income forgone due to in other economies is a function of country-specific health impacts for the three diseases Impacts on information, however, the pattern of sectoral intensity public health are measured in terms of income for- (one sector relative to another) may be similar and gone due to premature death mortality) and loss of thus it is the relative ranking of sectors that is important, productivity due to sicknesses (morbidity). Data even if exact estimates are not possible. To the degree from the Thai Annual Epidemiology Surveillance that the intensities are based on US technology, and Report (1998) is used in this analysis. that developing countries possess at least the same, 2. The baseline data used to calculate the income if not older, pollution control technology, then these foregone comes from the Centre for Health Eco- estimates should be understood as lower bound nomics, Chulalongkorn University. The value of a estimates. Thai life in this study is estimated at $45,000. There In applying IPPS to Thailand, the pollution in- are, however, other estimates for a Thai life. tensity of each type of factory (kg/employee) was multiplied by the number of Thai employees in the factory as reported by the industrial