The Coastal Water Quality Change by Effluent Discharging from Phetchaburi Municipal Wastewater Treatment System: The King’s Royally Initiated Environmental Research and Development Project, Phetchaburi province, Thailand

Abstract

The research entitled “The Coastal Water Quality Change by Effluent Discharging from Phetchaburi Municipal Wastewater Treatment System: The King’s Royally Initiated Environmental Research and Development Project, Phetchaburi province, Thailand” has been focused on examinating and monitoring of water quality in the coastal area receiving effluent from Phetchaburi Municipal Wastewater Treatment System. The King’s Royally Initiated Environmental Research and Development Project (the LERD project) has been operating based on “nature heals nature” by applying natural mechanisms of constructed wasteland and stabilization ponds for sedimentation and bio-mechanism of aquatic plants. After the treated municipal wastewater has been released into the coastal area, the water quality has been shown in three different zones, as follows : zone A: 200 meters from the coast, zone B: 600 meters from the coast and zone C: 1,000 meters from the coast. Water quality has been sampled and analyzed during August 2012 (rainy season), December 2012 (winter) and March 2013 (summer). Six parameters have been identified as follows : Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Phosphate, Nitrate and Ammonia. The study expresses that the average levels at different distances from the coastal target areas of the LERD project have been 31.84±1.73°C ,8.18±0.12, 6.14±0.82 mg/L, 0.25±0.21 mg/L, 0.12±0.05 mg/L and 0.04±0.03 mg/L, respectively. By comparing with the standard water quality from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (2004), the results of the study have been consistant with the original standards.