CityNews – Residents of Pa Daet sub-district of Chiang Mai city are out protesting against and demanding action on the ongoing Mae Kha Canal waste water.
On February 9th, at Ban Don Chai, T. Pa Daet, A. Mueang, around sixty villagers came out in protest. Virachai Chaimongkol, the village headman, had assembled people who say had been impacted by the ongoing smell from the untreated sewage which is released into the canal. The Mae Kha Canal is a natural waterway which flows from Doi Suthep, through many parts of the city, and eventually joins the Ping River. For decades, various municipalities have launched campaigns to keep the water clean, but to no avail, as markets and houses living along its banks, release their raw sewage, untreated, into the canal.
Virachai mentioned during the protest that this problem had been going on for at least thirty years when a car accidently drove into the canal and the driver soon died from lung infection after swallowing the dirty water.
The protesters say that in total, over 1,000 households are affected by this untreated problem.