Evaluation of drinking water treatment and quality in Takua Pa, Thailand

After 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, which
hit and devastated several Countries in Southeast
Asia, University of Brescia and Mahidol University
started a project on water monitoring and treatment
for drinking purposes in Takua Pa district (Thailand),
the most damaged by the tsunami. In particular, this
paper presents the results of a study conducted to
evaluate the effectiveness of Takua Pa drinking water
treatment plant and to identify actions that could be
adopted to improve its performances. The results
show that, even if the effluent usually meets Thai
guide values, except for pH which is already too acid
in the influent, the plant needs several structural and
managerial improvements, such as filtration and sedimentation
upgrade, coagulation/flocculation and final
disinfection re-organization, use of proper registers to
better plan and control employees activities. Moreover,
it was determined that water quality in the
distribution network is characterized by turbidity and
organic matter values higher than those evaluated in
the plant effluent.