Thailand’s Koh Samui is battling a worsening water shortage that had rendered taps running dry for months now. Reports have suggested that the boom in tourism industry, especially after the pandemic eased, has catalysed the water crisis in Koh Samui.
A popular tourist destination, Koh Samui, offers trekking destinations, exotic beaches, jungle safari and everything a traveller could ask for sans the water shortage the island is facing.
Koh Samui hosts some 2,700,000 visitors per year.
Koh Samui has been facing a severe lack of rain and to top it off a resurgence in tourism has put intense pressure on supplies, prompting Sutham Samthong, a deputy mayor of Koh Samui, to urge the public to use supplies sparingly, reported Guardian.
Samthong said that water was being brought in from other areas and private reservoirs, to be distributed to the public. With careful management he believed the island could navigate the next two months, after which rain was expected.
“We are not complacent. We are trying to solve the situation. We don’t want the provincial or upper [administration] to announce that Koh Samui is a disaster zone,” he said
Samui, famous for its white sandy beaches, scenic temples and luxury resorts, often struggles with a lack of fresh water during the dry season between March and May. It’s feared the El Niño weather phenomenon, which is associated with less rain, will result in more severe shortages this year.
Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, the president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui, said that rather than benefiting from a resurgence in tourist arrivals this year, businesses were instead having to use their profits to buy water. Not only was this costly, but supplies were also scarce, he added.
The number of rooms available on the island, including in hotels and villas, fell to just 5,000 during the pandemic. It has since recovered to 25,000, the same level as 2019, according to Ratchaporn.
As a result, problems such as water and waste management are also re-emerging.
Sutham said Samui needed 30,000 cubic metres of water a day. The majority, 24,000 cubic metres, would be brought to the island through an underwater pipeline from Surat Thani on the mainland, while reservoir supplies would be used for the remaining amount.
An additional 30,000 cubic metres would also be brought in on Monday to boost the reservoir supplies, according to the Provincial Waterworks Authority.
“I would like to ask people to save water, use it sparingly. If we help each other, we can go through this,” said Sutham.
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Updated: 04 Jul 2023, 04:30 PM IST
