In a landmark environmental case, the Supreme Administrative Court on Thursday ordered the Pollution Control Department to pay nearly four million baht in compensation for lead poisoning to 22 Karen villagers at Klity Creek in Kanchanaburi.
The 3.8 million baht compensation, amounting to just 177,199.50 baht for each of the victims, is not at all substantial given the suffering they have gone through from exposure to the lead contamination in Klity Creek, the only stream and only source of water for their mountain community, and the nine-year-long courtroom battle.
Yet it is much better than the chicken feed 33,783 baht earlier awarded to each of the 22 victims by the Central Administrative Court.
Had the Karen been really going after the money, they could have demanded much more compensation from the PCD. But they chose not to because they did not want to put a greater burden on the taxpayers who, in the end, have to foot the bill anyway, according to Surapong Kongchanthuek, the man behind their fight for justice for their ordeal from lead pollution and the PCD’s gross negligence in failing to address the problem properly.
Twenty-two ethnic Karen villagers affected by lead contamination in lower Klity Creek in Kanchanaburi province celebrate their victory in a nine-year court battle against the Pollution Control Department at the Supreme Administrative Court on Jan 10, 2013. (Photo by Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)
The Supreme Administrative Court also ordered that the PCD clean up the creek and reduce the dangerous level of lead to an acceptable standard. But it stopped there, without being more specific.
With the absence of the court wielding a stick, the PCD will drag its feet as it has always done from the very outset when the problem of lead contamination was brought to light. PCD chief Wichien Jungrungruang said the department would stick to its old strategy – that is to let the lead dilute naturally, although the lead tailings pile near the creek will be removed.
That is indeed pathetic. The lead contamination is not limited to Klity village. In fact, it has spread downstream through the Srinakharind dam into the Mae Klong river since 1988. Lead content in the river was tested and found to be four times higher than the acceptable standard. And tests conducted by PCD last month show the lead level in Klity Creek is almost 1,000 times more than the acceptable standard.
The lead pollution in Klity Creek and the Mae Klong river poses a real health hazard, not just to the Karen villagers but also to people along the river who rely on it as a source of water for consumption and farming. Many Bangkokians may not be aware of it, but water from the river has been diverted for tap water production to meet the ever-increasing demand in the capital.
For the Klity lead sufferers, the legal battle is not yet over. Two civil cases are still pending with the Supreme Court – one involves eight Karen villagers and the other involves 151 villagers. They hope to exact greater compensation from the real culprit – Lead Concentrate (Thailand), the company held responsible for discharging tens of thousands of tonnes of lead waste into the creek and, ultimately, into the Mae Klong river.
The villagers have won their cases in these two courts, and hopefully will win in the Supreme Court too. I wish them the very, very best of luck.