Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Notable case, Lower Klity (Thong Pha Phum district), Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Klity Creek

ห้วยคลิตี้

A creek in the forest near the Burmese border, contaminated by the waste of a lead-processing plant, on which the Karen villages of Klity depend for water and food. It is the first case in which a Thai court ordered the state to clean up.

Status
Remediation under way
Activity
until 1998
People affected
400 (2014)2
Media
sediment, surface water, soil, living organisms
Kind of site
mining, smelter
  1. Area. No area in the sources read; in 1999 dredging of 2.5 km of creek was ordered. The map point is Thong Pha Phum district, not the village.
  2. People affected. Karen inhabitants of Lower Klity, approximately (Human Rights Watch); Upper Klity is also affected.

Contaminants

Metals

Status

Remediation under way

In December 2014 Human Rights Watch found that the court-ordered clean-up had not started and the May 2014 deadline had passed. Wikipedia reports a later 460 million baht clean-up of the lead tailings, the first state-supervised environmental clean-up in Thailand; its dates and results were not checked for this record.

Story

From the mid-1960s Lead Concentrate (Thailand) Co. processed lead ore upstream of the Klity villages in Kanchanaburi Province. Waste from the plant, together with that of a mine further up, settled as lead-laden sediment along the creek that runs through the villages and is used for drinking, fishing and irrigation. The plant was ordered to close in 1998.

In 1999 the Pollution Control Department (PCD) ordered 2.5 km of creek to be dredged, but the company put the sediment in pits on the bank. In 2002 two rock dams were built to hold back sediment, later found ineffective. In 2005 the PCD opted to leave the creek to "natural remediation".

Twenty-two villagers went to court. On 10 January 2013 the Supreme Administrative Court awarded them nearly 4 million baht and ordered the PCD to clean up until contamination stayed within limits for four consecutive quarterly tests. In 2013 water, soil, sediment, fish, shrimp, crabs and vegetables still had lead above permitted levels.

Timeline

  1. 1998The lead-processing plant is ordered to close.
  2. 1999Dredging of 2.5 km of creek is ordered; the sediment ends up in pits on the bank.
  3. 2002Two rock dams are built.
  4. 2005The PCD adopts a "natural remediation" policy.
  5. 201310 January: the Supreme Administrative Court orders the state to clean up and compensates 22 villagers.
  6. 2014Human Rights Watch documents the delays in carrying out the ruling.

Health

According to Human Rights Watch, blood tests of residents between 1998 and 2008 showed 10 to 50 µg/dL of lead, averaging 20–30; in 2002–2003, 235 children were above 25 µg/dL and 83 adults above 40 µg/dL. Residents reported abdominal pain, fatigue and headaches; intellectual and developmental disabilities are reported among children.

Remediation

  1. 1999dredgingDredging of 2.5 km of channel by the company; sediment placed in unsuitable pits along the bank.
  2. 2002sediment trapsTwo rock dams to trap sediment, later found ineffective.

From the literature

Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.

Plants

Fungi

The rest are on the contaminant pages.

Nearby

Notable case, Tak, Thailand

Mae Tao, Mae Sot (cadmium in rice paddies)

219 km

  • Cadmium
  • Zinc

Phytoremediation

Sources

  1. Toxic Water, Tainted Justice: Thailand's Delays in Cleaning Up Klity Creek, Human Rights Watch, 2014
  2. Thong Pha Phum district, Wikipedia, 2026

Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.