Water monitoring and treatment for drinking purposes in 2004 tsunami affected area--Ban Nam Khem, Phang Nga, Thailand

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 147; no. 1-3; pp. 191 - 198
• Main Authors: Collivignarelli, Carlo, Tharnpoophasiam, Prapin, Vaccari, Mentore, De Felice, Valentina, Di Bella, Veronica, Mingkwan, Ruchaneekorn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01.12.2008; Springer Netherlands; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Arsenic; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bans; Brackish; Cadmium; Carbon; Disasters; Drinking water; Drinking water and swimming-pool water. Desalination; E coli; Earth and Environmental Science; Earthquakes; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental monitoring; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Exact sciences and technology; Freshwater; Geography; Groundwater; Laboratories; Marine; Microbial contamination; monitoring; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Pollution; Reverse osmosis; Salinity; Studies; Surface water; Thailand; Tidal Waves; Towns; Treatment; Tsunami; Tsunamis; Water monitoring; Water Purification - methods; Water Supply - analysis; Water treatment; Water treatment and pollution; Thailand; Asia; Thailand, Chacoengsao Prov., Bangkok; ISEW, Thailand; Drinking water; Tsunami; Treatment; Thailand; Monitoring; Drinking water treatment; Natural disaster; Salinity; Membrane separation; Surveillance; Drinking water treatment plant; Surface water; Water quality; Reverse osmosis; Water pollution; Ground water
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-007-0111-7

University of Brescia and Mahidol University of Bangkok developed a project in Phang Nga province (Thailand), the most damaged by 2004 tsunami. In particular, the study, performed between April and May 2006, dealt with the surface and ground water monitoring in Ban Nam Khem village and the experimental evaluation of possible drinking treatment alternatives. The monitoring highlighted that saline content in the tsunami affected area is decreasing but still very high (conductivity presented values up to 2,600 and 6,230 μS/cm in ground and surface water, respectively); hence, advanced and complicated processes such as reverse osmosis should be adopted to treat such water for drinking purposes. Waiting for ground water salinity to assume acceptable values, activities for the reduction of its organic and microbiological contamination will be started. However, it has to be underlined that the diffusion of drinking water to a greater part of population can be obtained only through the realization of new centralised treatment plants and the improvement of existing ones (serving at the moment about 20% of inhabitants).