CHON BURI: Koh Lan, the popular resort island off Pattaya, is being hit by water shortage due to a large number of daily visitors.
Manoj Nongyai, deputy mayor of Pattaya City, said that after more than two years with few or no tourists because of the Covid-19 pandemic, visitors have been gradually returning to Koh Lan since travel restrictions were scrapped.
He said the number of Thai and foreign tourists visiting island is now about 10,000 per day. The island is supplied with about 300 cubic metres of treated water per day by Eastern Water Resources Development and Management Plc (Eastwater), and that is far from enough to meet demand.
Business operators on the island have resorted to buying treated water from private suppliers, which deliver it from the mainland, at 70 to 150 baht per cubic metre.
To solve the problem in the short run, Eastwater will be asked to increase the water supply to Koh Lan to 1,000 cubic metres per day.
In the long run, Pattaya City will dust off a plan, which was once raised for discussion several years ago, to lay an undersea pipeline to supply treated water from the mainland to Koh Lan, Mr Manoj said.
