Yesterday, August 27, Pattaya City rolled up its sleeves and dove back into history — literally. The city launched the second phase of its ambitious canal conservation project, focusing on the Nok Yang and Naklua canals and their surrounding neighborhoods. What started as a cleanup has quickly become a full-blown love letter to the waterways that once defined this part of Bang Lamung’s Naklua subdistrict.
At Naklua Canal Bridge, Deputy Mayor Manot Nongyai led volunteers and officials in an energetic morning of debris removal, water-flow clearing and community talk that felt part town meeting, part block party. Joining him were Chukeat Nongyai, Assistant Secretary to the Mayor; Panrada Attohi, Deputy City Clerk; Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) staff; local leaders and scores of residents — all united by a simple idea: these canals matter.
“The canals are an essential part of Pattaya’s history and ecosystem. We need the community to work with us to protect them for future generations.”
The words rang out not as an admonition but as an invitation. The project’s hands-on phase includes clearing litter and silt, improving water flow to reduce stagnation, and reintroducing natural vegetation to stabilize banks and support wildlife. But officials are thinking bigger than rakes and nets: alongside physical rehabilitation, the campaign is pushing public-awareness drives about proper waste disposal and environmental stewardship, designed to change habits long after the last sack of trash is hauled away.
That matters because these waterways are not just drains on a municipal map — they are living threads of Pattaya’s past. Once lined with wooden stilt homes, bustling markets and the scent of street-cooked food drifting over the water, the Nok Yang and Naklua canals have been blunted by rapid urban expansion. Commercial development, untreated waste and infrastructure projects have pushed decades of cultural and natural richness to the margins.
MNRE officials emphasized the broader rationale: healthy canals feed healthy ecosystems and a healthier eco-tourism sector. “Nok Yang and Naklua canals are treasures,” an MNRE spokesperson said. “If we maintain them properly, they can showcase the unique history and culture of Pattaya while supporting sustainable tourism.” It’s a message that plays well in a city eager to balance growth with green credentials.
From Cleanup to Comeback
On the ground, the work looked like a choreography of buckets, boats, and banter. Volunteers hauled soggy plastic, tangled nets and the kind of single-use items that betray modern convenience: wrappers, containers, the odd forgotten sandal. Teams measured water flow, noted clogged inlets and mapped hotspots where trash repeatedly accumulates. Plans were sketched for native plantings to filter runoff and for small-scale infrastructure improvements to prevent future dumping.
Local residents who participated were pragmatic and hopeful. Many stressed that cleanup days are useful but that long-term success depends on ongoing maintenance and community ownership. “This is our neighborhood,” said a Naklua resident as she waded in to help free a trapped bamboo pole. “If we let it go again, the canal will be what it was last year. But if we look after it, we get a cleaner street, cleaner water and something beautiful to show people.”
Why It’s About More Than Tourism
Yes, sustainable tourism is a goal. Cleaner canals and restored riverside habitats can become quiet attractions — boat tours, community markets, cultural walks that tell the story of Naklua’s past. But the benefits are deeper: improved water quality reduces health risks, native vegetation helps manage flooding, and the restored corridors become urban refuges for birds, fish and people alike.
The project is also a statement about civic identity. Preserving waterways means preserving memory — the rhythm of life that once flowed around wooden jetties and market stalls. For visitors, it offers a different Pattaya, one less about neon nights and more about daylit canals and conversations with elders who remember when boats were the main transport.
How the Community Can Help
- Practice proper waste disposal and support local recycling points.
- Join regular cleanup events and local canal-watch groups.
- Support small-scale eco-tourism that benefits neighborhoods directly.
- Encourage local schools to include canal ecology in their programs.
The city’s wider strategy is clear: balance rapid growth with sustainability, and allow cultural traditions to live alongside modern life. For now, Naklua’s canals are getting a much-needed facelift, and residents hope that cleaner waterways will lure tourists back to quieter, more authentic corners of Pattaya — and maybe coax a few more fish into returning to the currents.
As volunteers packed up their tools and the last sacks were loaded onto a pickup, there was a shared sense that the day had been about more than clearing litter. It was a reminder that environmental restoration is a marathon, not a sprint — and that the best long-term plans combine government action with neighborhood pride. If Pattaya keeps this momentum, the Nok Yang and Naklua canals could soon be more than historical relics; they could become a living showcase of how a coastal city honors its past while steering toward a greener future.
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