dtaai-maai wrote:EDIT: looking again at the photo, it;'s good to see that volunteers have been issued with all the latest equipment.
Getting back to my point again, the amount of kit we used to dispatch to teams cleaning oil problems was a lot more than a sand castle building kit (poor lady in the photo doesn't even have a bucket and spade ). IMHO this is making Thailand into a laughing stock again.
One of the problems is that the oil companies are the ones with the booms and cleaning equipment. Unless they are at fault, they won't be seen. Unless of course someone asks them to help and I doubt anyone in Thai gov has yet. There was one over here some months ago at Koh Samet and the booms, chemicals and other were there at the speed of light, because it all came from a pipe pumping accident that was PTT's responsibility. Pete
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Returned to the beach this afternoon to take the dog for a walk (white dog,bad idea) just below cicada. Decided to abandon the walk after a short distance. Quite a lot of rubbish again deposited from the tide. Sand looked ok on the surface however there are still patches of tar like hydrocarbon material leeching through the sand. To date I have yet to find any independent accredited analytical reports to properly identify an determine precisely what the substance is and its most likely source of origin. As to,whether this contaminant originated from an ocean or estuarine discharge/spill I would,have thought the impact on aquatic and avian ecology would be greater from an estuarine incident. (Quite happy to be corrected on this!) I have not observed any noticeable difference in the quantity of dead marine/bird life deposited on the tide line, I would be iterested in any thoughts on this. Not sure how long it will take to disperse without the use of detergents/surfactants I think would be anyone guess.Took the dog home after its walk for a wash and looking at the color of its paws now scored the name socks!
'Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way they ask for directions'. -Winston Churchill-
Well beyond the scope of this discussion, but estuarine areas are very complex areas in terms of water densities. Many factors are involved in how the fresh water mixes with the salt water, and the resulting SG of the mix.
The point of this is that the type of pollution involved, and therefore where it ends up in the ocean, is directly connected with the SG of the material, be it oil, or any other substance.
Accurate measurement of the SG of any substance is also complex, and for correct comparison the tests must be carried out under the same conditions, temperature being one of the most important.
Just as a rough guide the following is near enough in this case:
Fresh water: 1.0
Ocean water: 1.028 / 1.030
Crude oil: 0.876, 0.918, 0.976, and many other, both higher and lower, depending where it comes from.
Diesel: 0.810, 0.960 (marine gas oil)
Kerosene: 0.820
Bunker C/furnace oil, etc., 0.950 up to 1.030.
From the above, roughly, it can be seen that only BunkerC has an SG equal to, or greater than sea water. And when it starts to combine with sand or other heavier particles, it sinks.
That gunk is going to be there for some time.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
..................Samples were sent to Belgium for testing, so a more definitive idea of the spill’s origin will emerge in the next four to six weeks.
Why would it take 4 to 6 weeks, and why do the samples have to go to Belgium? They have refineries in Thailand that SHOULD be able to test the samples, or failing that, send them to Singapore, where it will take a couple of days.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Just watching Thai news, and from what I can gather there's more oil coming ashore along the Pak Nam Pran/Prachuab stretch. Certainly the bits along the Pranburi River looked familiar.
Went to see if there was any cleaning activities going off this morning to help do my bit. Nothing going off.We took a walk from Soi 75 to the Hilton and debris had been collected and put in heaps.The probem was the tide was in and was washing it back in the ocean.Looks like they had set fire to one heap, bottles and all.
They need a Jcb on the beach and debris put straight into the bucket.Towards the Hiton is the best area as the wind took the oil spiil Southwards but I have to say that area looked shocking.
The deckchair people were sat in their empty chairs waiting as if they were expecting a deluge of tourists while debris was strewn all around them with no attempt to clean up.One said to me the beach was ok now and if you swim out deeper there is no oil.
Where we walked is supposedly not too bad but our feet were covered in oil.
And the city and government seem to be doing little about tackling the problem. They should be throwing millions of baht at it. Mind you some Thais don't really know or seem to care as I saw many swimming yesterday around soi 106. I think its time to move somewhere else in the kingdom as this will take months if not years to remedy.
Sad to say so, but a positive could be that we see less Bangkokians during weekends and holidays, i. e. hopefully less traffic. But sad what's happening to the beach.
huahin4ever wrote:Sad to say so, but a positive could be that we see less Bangkokians during weekends and holidays, i. e. hopefully less traffic. But sad what's happening to the beach.
I don't think Bangkokians go to the beach that much, on an average weekend there seems to be more of them in Market Village. It's strange really as there are dozens of shopping malls in Bangkok.
). IMHO this is making Thailand into a laughing stock again.
