Cadmium contamination threat to a part of Chao Phraya River
The health department of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration on Thursday warned people living downstream from a factory in Bangkok’s Bang Sue district not to use raw water from the river, as it might have been contaminated with cadmium.
The department dispatched officials to check the factory of Thai Metal Wheel Co Ltd on Thursday, a day after officials found about 190 big bags containing cadmium waste, weighing around 300 tonnes.
Thai Metal Wheel is a subsidiary of J&B Metal in Samut Sakhon province where over 6,000 tonnes of cadmium waste dispatched from Tak province were recovered.
Officials of the city's health department collected samples of soil and water in communities around the factory on Pracharaj Road for checking.
The officials also took samples of soil and water at the drainages of the factory in the front and back of the compound for checking as well.
Dr Nititrat Boontanont, an official of the Urban Health Development Institute of the department, said officials checked samples in the soil and water in a one-kilometre radius of the factory and would also check the drainage system.
He said the factory’s drainage was linked to the Chao Phraya river, so the officials had yet to check the factory’s wastewater treatment system.
He said people living on the Chao Phraya banks downstream from the factory should avoid using raw water from the river until the department finishes checking for possible contamination of the water.
He said the department would also check for possible cadmium poisoning of the factory workers. He added that if the factory had not yet processed or melted the cadmium waste, the chance would be still low for the waste to contaminate the environment.
