Black wastewater flows across Kamala beach again as treatment capacity falls short
Wastewater has again flowed through the Pak Bang Canal and across Kamala beach after technical problems halted the local treatment system.
Foul, black wastewater has again been flowing through the Pak Bang Canal and across Kamala beach after Kamala’s wastewater treatment system stopped operating earlier this month because of technical problems.
Charoon Kobkoy, chief of the Kamala Subdistrict Administrative Organisation (OrBorTor), said repairs were due to be completed on 20 October and the system was scheduled to resume operation on 21 October 2026.
He attributed the black water to stagnant water trapped in the canal, compounded by rainwater runoff. However, he said the system’s capacity was far below the amount of wastewater generated in Kamala.
The system can process only 1,000-1,500 cubic metres per day, while daily wastewater production exceeds 2,000 cubic metres, Charoon said. The system, acquired from China last year, processes all incoming water together rather than separating clean water from wastewater. He said problems arose whenever the total volume exceeded its capacity.
Charoon said the Kamala OrBorTor lacked the budget for the major infrastructure works needed to address the recurring problem. Projects of that scale would require hundreds of millions of baht, beyond the local authority’s financial capacity.
The OrBorTor has submitted funding requests, but the resources have not yet materialised, he said. Coordination with provincial authorities had also been hindered by budget constraints.
Charoon said the problem recurred every year and that repairing the equipment would not provide a lasting solution while treatment capacity remained limited and funding for further projects was unavailable.
