Diarrhoea fears spur school water rethink

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) plans to stop using underground water tanks at city schools it runs amid fears they were the source of contamination that cause students to come down with diarrhoea sporadically.

The step was announced after a meeting of the BMA’s public health committee at City Hall yesterday.

Deputy Bangkok governor Pusadee Tamthai said random tests of drinking water collected from BMA-run schools suggested some students had suffered diarrhoea after drinking school water.

The investigation found BMA schools store water in underground tanks, she said. The tanks could have ruptured and the water become contaminated, she said.

Many schools did not purify the water from the tanks before distributing it to the students, she added.

Ms Pusadee said the BMA will order schools to install new stainless steel tanks above ground, and clean them at least once a term.