Undersea water pipe planned for Koh Lan

Undersea water pipe planned for Koh Lan

CHON BURI: Officials are planning to lay an undersea pipe to pump water to Koh Lan, a scenic islet off Pattaya, in a fresh bid to solve the severe water shortage there.

If the project is given the green light, several thousand local residents and tourists will have enough running water at cheaper prices, Suthat Nutpan, the Provincial Waterworks Authority's manager for its branch in Pattaya, said.

The move is also part of attempts to make Pattaya a "centre of development" under the state's Eastern Economic Corridor, or EEC, he added.

The current water system of turning sea water into fresh water on Koh Lan is not viable as it is too expensive, he said, while not enough water is produced for all householders and foreigners.

Though Koh Lan is small and houses only 3,000 families, the actual number of people there is much higher. A survey found between 300,000 and 500,000 are non-registered residents, not to mention tourists whose numbers exceed one million every year, Mr Suthat said.

Demand for water stands at between 1,000 and 1,500 cubic metres a day, but only 300 cubic metres are produced daily, he said.

Given the cost of turning sea water into fresh water, people on the islet pay more than 70 baht for just one cubic metre of water, he added.

"So they now have high water bills as well as a water shortage."

His agency hired Kasetsart University to conduct a study in 2014 on ways to solve the problem. Its findings, which suggest the construction of a network of pipes and large tanks, have gained interest though the project cost is estimated at 650 million baht.

Under the new water supply plan, tap water will be pumped from the Pattaya PWA branch to a new tank, which will be built on Thap Phraya mountain.

The tank, with a capacity of 1,500 cubic metres, will temporarily hold water before it is carried via the undersea 9.4-kilometre pipe to Koh Lan.

Water will be then kept in a 4,000-cubic metre tank near the islet's shoreline before being transported to another tank on high ground.

He went on to say that the tanks will be key to supplying water to everyone on Koh Lan.

"This new system would be able to end the water shortage," Mr Suthat said.

Equally important, he said, is that people can save money as they will only have to pay 35-37 baht for one cubic metre of water.

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