Groups demand action on Klity creek
โพสเมื่อวันที่ 11 พ.ค. 2555 09:59 น. 

Groups demand action on Klity creek

Greenpeace and its allies called on the Pollution Control Department (PCD) yesterday to urgently rehabilitate the Klity creek in Kanchanaburi province after recent studies showed that the area had high levels of lead contamination.

"The contamination caused by waste from a lead mine took place 14 years ago, but the creek is still highly contaminated," Ply Pirom, campaign manager for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said. "The local people need urgent help to clean up the river so they can have clean water and fish for consumption."

He was speaking at a press conference to reveal a recent study on the contamination of the Klity creek. Greenpeace and its ally Environmental Litigation and Advocacy for the Wants (EnLAW) conducted the study in February.

Lead Concentrate Co, operator of the Klity lead mine, was blamed for contaminating the creek and land in the surrounding area in 1998 and forced to shut down.

Greenpeace recently studied lead contamination in the Klity creek, which runs through Kanchanaburi’s Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary. The research team collected soil samples from nine points along the creek and found that some areas, about 12km from the now-defunct lead mine, had up to 4,082 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil. Though the soil sample collected from the first point located near the mine measured at 65mg per kilogram.

"But soil samples collected from a playground in front of a school at the Lower Klity village, measured at 3,906mg per kilo," Ply said.

According to international standards, lead levels in the environment should not exceed 30mg per kilogram.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Netherlands - where the river delta was contaminated by lead - warned that contamination levels exceeding 530mg per kg would severely affect the environment and the ecosystem.

"Thailand still has no standards for lead contamination in the soil surface," Ply added.

Previously, people living in the Lower Klity village had filed a lawsuit with the Central Administrative Court demanding that the Klity creek be rehabilitated. However, the PCD only built a rock check-dam to screen out lead sentiment, because it wanted the creek to recover naturally.

"The PCD should suck the lead sentiment out from the creek instead of building a rock check dam. This is the only way to rehabilitate it," Ply said.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Groups-demand-action-on-Klity-creek-30181741.html