The quality of water is deteriorating, the amount of accumulated garbage increasing and air pollution worsening, the Department of Pollution Control says.
Wichien: Few bright spots on horizon
Revealing its findings on pollution last year in its 2012 annual report, Wichien Jungrungruang, the department chief, said the number of places where the quality of seawater was excellent fell by almost half, from 36% in 2011 to 15% last year.
The department found nowhere in the country where the quality of seawater remains merely "good", down from 2% in 2011.
Crisis locations are the inner Gulf of Thailand, Koh Samet in Rayong province, Karon beach in Phuket and Koh Phi Phi in Krabi province.
"We are concerned about an increasing number of tourists at marine tourist attractions. There are not enough water treatment systems. The country actually has only 100 water treatment plants, which means less than 10% of used water is treated before being discharged," Mr Wichien said.
Regarding the quality of freshwater, the department found 80% of rivers were of moderate quality, compared to 85% in 2011.
Rivers and canals in Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom were ranked as having the poorest quality water while the Songkhram River in Nakhon Phanom and the Moon-She River in Buri Ram province contain water with good quality.
"What we are worried about this year is heavy metal substances contaminating river tributaries in areas where heavy industrial plants are located," he said.
The pollution chief said the average level of particles in the air last year increased to 42 microgrammes per cubic metre, compared with 39 microgrammes per cubic metre in 2011.
The safety standard is at 50 microgrammes per cubic metre.
The highest level of particles was found in Chalerm Prakiat district of Saraburi province with a one-day average of 200 microgrammes per cubic metre, especially during the drought season.
Meanwhile, the amount of rubbish and waste collected around the country was about 16 million tonnes or 43,000 tonnes a day, 22% of which was from Bangkok.
Only 36% was properly managed and 10 million tonnes were left as accumulated garbage.