They are hoping that Thailand will follow in Japan’s footsteps and implement such remediation methods to rehabilitate the environment in this country
The Reverse Brain Drain Project, under the supervision of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), recently partnered with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Office of the Higher Education Commission and the Thai Research Fund (TRF) to hold “The Thai Professionals Conference 2010: Green Thailand”, an academic conference for Thai professionals from overseas to share their knowledge and experiences, as well as brainstorm and exchange ideas about addressing different critical issues. One highly intriguing topic discussed at this conference is “the Greening of Thai Industries”, with knowledgeable professionals presenting case studies of tools and methods used in environmental detoxification and rehabilitation.
Industrial and agricultural sectors jointly address decrease in groundwater level
Dr. Athit Thamtrakarn, a member of the Association of Thai Professionals in Japan (ATPIJ), presented a case study of how Sony’s factory in Kumamoto, Japan dealt with the reduction in volume of groundwater in the province. Kumamoto City has had very rich groundwater resources, but the volume of groundwater has decreased significantly so that the water level in the city’s lake has shrunk by 20%. It was speculated that the decrease in the groundwater volume was a result of the Sony factory withdrawing the groundwater by up to 4,000 tonnes per day for industrial use. Such an amount is the equivalent of water used by 6,000 households. Moreover, the Japanese government’s crop rotation policy has significantly lessened groundwater recharge.
“Rice fields in Kumamoto province are made of soils of volcanic ash origin. Therefore, during the rice-planting season, water in the rice fields originally could infiltrate the ground at the rate of 10 centimetres per day. However, outside the rice-planting season, residents in the province withdrew water from the rice fields for planting off-season crops as part of the crop rotation policy. As a result, the groundwater recharge significantly decreased. To tackle this problem, Sony co-operated with local government and local farmers to work on improving groundwater recharge using irrigated rice fields. Sony signed agreements to buy rice from farmers who take part in its groundwater recharge project. The firm then cooks the rice it has purchased for sale in the company. As of now, 52 farming households have joined this programme, accounting for a total of 320,000 square metres of rice fields. At the same time, the factory promised the local residents that it will find ways to cut the amount of groundwater it withdraws for industrial use by using rainwater storage and recycling 80% of the water it uses. The amount of groundwater the factory extracts has since decreased steadily. The project is a joint effort between the industrial sector and the general public. As a result of this joint effort, Sony achieved groundwater recharging of up to 7 million tonnes between 2003 and 2007. Kumamoto became the first area to successfully implement these methods.”
Soil Detoxification in Toyosu
Dr. Pathom Uttaviriyanuphap, a member of the Association of Thai Professionals in Japan, presented a case study of soil and water detoxification in Toyosu. Tsukiji market has been home to the world's largest fish bazaar for over 70 years and it has become crowded to the point where the local transport is obstructed. In keeping with changes in the distribution environment, the Japanese government has therefore decided to relocate the fish market to Toyosu wharf, which offers more space. However, Toyosu wharf is located on reclaimed land and was once the site of a factory that produced household utility gas from coal. This site has been found to be heavily polluted with cyanide compounds and carcinogenic benzene at levels much higher than permitted. The public has voted against the relocation to Toyosu for fear that their food would be contaminated.
“The Japanese government conducted a study to evaluate the environment of the site and detected that soil polluted 10 times higher the level permitted under environmental standards (0.01 mg per litre) did exist in the area. However, the contamination was not thoroughly widespread and could only be found in patches, which allows for soil detoxification to be effective. About 155.4 billion baht has been budgeted for detoxifying the soil on the site and for the construction of the new market. The government is planning to dig at the Toyosu site to detoxify all substances lying 2 meters underground. After detoxification, the government will establish a 2.5-meter-high embankment made of unpolluted soil and then cover the surface with asphalt and concrete. The groundwater will be contained so that it will not rise and re-contaminate the ground. Pipes will also be installed in order to closely monitor the tidal levels. Should the tide rises to the contained level, the groundwater would immediately be extracted and decontaminated. Meanwhile, soil contaminated with benzene will be remedied by the introduction of heat to raise subsurface temperatures sufficiently high to volatize chemical contaminants out of the soil for vapour extraction. Also, thick cement walls will be built around the site to prevent seawater from coming into contact with the soil.
“However, the relocation plan was announced over 10 years ago, but due to the controversy and the opposition against the plan, the relocation has been postponed numerous times. Nevertheless, the environment rehabilitation and detoxification process and the construction of the market should start this year as planned,” concluded Dr. Prathom.
For more information, please contact:
The Reverse Brain Drain Project
The National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA)
The Ministry of Science and Technology
Tel: 0 2564 7000 ext, 1446 through 1449
Fax: 0 2564 7004
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