Mr. Thawatchai Wanaphithakkun
Chief of Subdivision of Building Control, Ministry of Interior,
Department of Local Administration, Khon Kaen Municipality, Thailand

1. The City

Khon Kaen is the second largest city of the North Eastern provinces of Thailand. It is located in the heart of the Khorat Plateau. The Chi River flows through this province, and its population is 1,733,434. It is occasionally susceptible to periods of both drought and flooding.

In 1993, due to the continued increases in population and urbanization, wastewater generated in Khon Kaen Municipality also increased to 46,368m³, which was higher than the capacity of the former treatment plant. The municipality formulated a master plan for wastewater management, which included the construction of a drainage main sewage system and a treatment plant. The construction period was 1998-2002, and the sewer system, now in operation, covers 70% of the municipal area. The plan also included the expansion of the drainage, sewage collection and treatment systems throughout the whole area of the municipality and relevant adjacent area. The construction of the treatment plant will be conducted between 2011 and 2013. Also, Khon Kaen University is in the process of constructing a waste stabilization pond for the treatment of its own generated sewage.

Over the past twenty years, drainage systems were established for Khon Kaen Municipality under the Regional City Development Project, supported by the Civil Department of the Interior Ministry. Sewage was collected in the combined sewer system and treated in waste stabilization ponds. At present, the municipality has renovated some of the sewer system and built a new sewer and treatment plant, in order to extend the capacity due to the increasing wastewater in the area.

Regarding policies and strategies toward wastewater management, Khon Kaen has a ‘Polluter Pays Principle’. This project will help to decrease wastewater and make a budget for wastewater management. The key factor for success is cooperation between government and polluter. One challenge is the reusing of water for green areas. Khon Kaen has 40,000m³/day of wastewater, and its mayor, Mr. Peerapon Pattanapeeradej wants the wastewater to be reused. So, a program will be designed, and then the budget for its construction will be obtained from the government. The aim is to increase the amount of green areas to 15.2m²/person. The reusing of water for this purpose is called the ‘Khon Kaen Green City Project’.

The city is generally well watered. It receives over 1200mm of rain fall each year and is drained by the Chi River. At the same time, the rainfall is very unevenly distributed, with 90% coming in the six summer months, May through October. Thus it is possible for the city to experience some temporary water shortages. In addition, the process of economic development tends to increase substantially the demand for potable water. This also implies an upward pressure on waste water treatment systems. Water consumption in Khon Kaen has been increasing dramatically, due to the increasing population and urbanization. The average water consumption is about 250liters/person/day. Consequently, the amount of waste also increases.

While the city’s water and sanitation infrastructure is adequate for the present and for the projected population growth and economic development, the city government believes it is necessary to promote water conservation. This implies making people more aware of how to conserve water and reduce pollution, and adopting policies to use market mechanisms to help promote conservation and further pollution reduction.

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2. The Proposed Action Plan

Through this action plan the city will attempt to reduce water consumption from the current average of 250 liters per person per day to 230 liters per person per day. The Polluter Pays Principle will help use market mechanisms to reduce consumption and pollution.

Finally, the city is committed to working closely with the community in a highly participative manner, to mobilize people to take part in their own progress. This implies first the collection of baseline water consumption and waste water discharge data; then working with the community through schools and other community groups to gain popular participation; and promoting voluntary activities to reduce consumption and pollution.

Goal:

Reduction of total amount of portable water consumed in 2009 to 230 l./person/day.

Objectives:

1. To compile baseline water consumption data.
2. To promote voluntary employee program.
3. To create awareness and encourage people to save water.
4. To reduce water consumption.
5. To achieve this goal and to meet all objectives, all sectors; public, NGOs, local government, and people must work together as partners.

Key Steps:

1. Report to the Mayor and the head office on the topic of Lessons learned from the First AUICK Workshop.
2. Motivate and encourage them to organize a workshop, so as to share knowledge and experience from the AUICK workshop within the organization, and create awareness on water saving and a shared vision.
3. Search for partnership for water saving - corporate with other organizations outside the municipality, such as big companies, local universities, community leaders and so on.
4. Proposal of development.
5. Meet with all partners and identify representative of each partner.
6. Situation analysis to get accurate data on water usage and to compile data on water consumption.
7. Develop action plan.
8. Launch the program.
9. Monitor the program - behavior and change in attitude of people, amount of water consumption and water quality.
10. Revise the plan and develop a new strategy.
11. Launch the program.
12. Monitor and evaluate.
13. Decide to continue/ expand/ or suspend program.

Time Frame: 3rd Quarter 2007 - 2nd Quarter 2009