At an SEI workshop using the “urban metabolism” framework, scientists and policy makers explored future scenarios for the planning, management and governance of freshwater resources and wastewater in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region.
Written by Rajesh Daniel and Orn-uma Polpanich
Mr Yongyuth’s statement came at an SEI workshop co-hosted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) on “Extending the urban metabolism framework: from Bangalore to Bangkok” organised by SEI-Asia and MWA on 15th August 2013. Bangkok’s water and urban planning issues were the topics discussed by scientists, policy makers, academics and SEI researchers.
Using the “urban metabolism” framework, large urban cities like Bangkok with a population of about 11 million can be envisioned as living organisms that require resources such as water, energy, food and biomass in order to function. Cities transform these resources into goods and services consumed by residents and industry into the physical structures of the urban built environment, and into waste outputs.
Viewing cities as living organisms helps policy makers and city planners to better understand how economic, social and demographic factors are driving consumption as well as design and manage urban areas. This in turn helps in planning for the future availability of water, the recharge of groundwater tables and the prevention of pollution and release of effluents into waterways and groundwater aquifers.
The workshop discussed ways in which the metropolitan region of Bangkok could cope with the availability of freshwater (surface and groundwater) to meet the demands of a growing population and increasing future socio-economic development while sustaining a healthy natural environment.
In fact, excessive groundwater withdrawal continues to be one of the pressing concerns in Bangkok, a city that is sinking at an alarming average rate of 3 centimeters per year. It is estimated that about 50 percent of the sinking is a result of the tapping of groundwater both by residential areas and private businesses.
“Although this practice of drilling and tapping the groundwater has been banned, it still goes on in many places in Bangkok”, said Dr Orapim Pimchareon, urban planner with the Planning and Urban Development Division, Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA). Dr Orapim is involved in revising the Bangkok city plan that became effective on May 15, 2013. But overall, the measures taken have had an effect: subsidence has really slowed; overpumping has been pushed outside of Bangkok.
The management of ground and surface water has to be coupled with effective wastewater management, said Prof Dr Mukand S. Babel, an expert in water engineering and management in the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).
Bangkok has seven central wastewater treatment plants that are running at full capacity already, but only about 42% of Bangkok’s wastewater is actually treated. There are no charges in place for wastewater treatment in Bangkok. People are also unwilling to pay for wastewater treatment and do not recognize its importance.
The problem begins at the collection sites where wastewater and drainage are combined straining the capacity of wastewater treatment centers. What are the decentralised solutions given that central systems are also expensive to maintain and operate?
Decentralised wastewater treatment (DWM) is one of the sensible approaches for communities for expanding existing wastewater treatment systems according to Dr Chanathip Pharino of the Environmental Engineering Department of Chulalongkorn University. The workshop proposed that decentralized solutions be made a part of urban planning.
From the industrial perspective, the present government’s policies of raising the minimum wage and the scrapping of investment privileges for relocating industries away from Bangkok is leading to an increased influx of industrial operations moving into Bangkok’s periphery to save costs of labour and transport.
Dr Eric Kemp-Benedict, Director of SEI-Asia said that the urban metabolism framework is a compelling approach for SEI, which has already been working on the urban dynamic of coupled social-ecological systems using the case of Bangalore in South India (2012-2013). The project successfully engaged the diverse actors ranging from government to civil society involved in building efficient and liveable cities.
SEI-Asia is extending this framework to study the metabolic flows of water through Bangkok in terms of water resources and wastewater treatment. It is hoped that SEI’s experiences would prove useful in the efforts to build different future scenario exploration features for the planning, management and governance of water resources and wastewater in Bangkok.
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