The water in Chiang Mai's famous moat now meets health hygiene standards and can safely be used for the Songkran festivities, the city mayor declared on Wednesday.
The municipality embarked on a race against time to clean up the historic moat for the water festival after laboratory tests found a high level of parasitic infestation in mud samples.
Municipal mayor Thassanai Buranupakorn said on Wednesday that chlorine had been used to kill the bugs and improve the quality of the water in the moat and it was safe to use it for the water fights.
The assurance was echoed by experts at Maejo Agricultural University, who confirmed the pollution level of the water in the city moat is now rated moderate and it could be safely used in Songkran celebrations from April 10-15.
The moat, in the old area of Muang district, was found to host large numbers of worm-like parasites in initial lab tests carried out at Maejo Agricultural University's faculty of fisheries technology and aquatic resources.
The university's experts detected the parasites when testing the water for heavy metals pollution. It had not been determined exactly what type of parasites they were.
Alarmed that Songkran celebrations could be affected, and the all-important tourism sector, Chiang Mai municipality sprang into action, chlorinating the moat and having more tests run.
Mongkhol Wallasewee, manager of the Provincial Waterworks Authority’s Chiang Mai branch, said 12 tap water vending machines had also been placed in various locations to serve Songkran revellers. Water mist sprays had also been installed at Nawarat Bridge near the main entrance gate to the old town, to help Songkran revellers cool down.