Singha, rice and golf mix in Isan wetland

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Singha, rice and golf mix in Isan wetland 
Bangkok Post: 8 Nov 2009
www.bangkokpost.com/life/family/27071/clearly-a-stroke-of-genius

CLEARLY A STROKE OF GENIUS
The 500 million baht Singha Park is on par environmentally


You can't blame them for building an 18-hole golf course in the middle of Isan - the country's poorest region that was once labelled infertile land. Khon Kaen Brewery didn't know what to do with the volume of about 5,000 cubic metres of water released every day in the process of producing its various types of beer being sold in the region.

FLAWLESS: The 18-hole par-72 golf course in Singha Park, probably the greenest part in the middle of Isan, is the end of the ‘wetland’ route.

Given that a single cubic metre of water fills up 1,000 one-litre bottles, the water churned out daily is equal to the contents of five million such bottles.

Chayanin Debhakam, Boon Rawd Brewery Co Ltd's vice-president director and project manager, also a fourth-generation member of the Bhirombhakdi family that runs the beer empire, aims to achieve zero-discharge water. Inspired by a royal project in Nong Ya Plong, the 500 million baht Singha Park was started last December as a prototype CSR project.

Although the management claims the treated water is safe for general use, it had been kept in a 600-rai plot behind the factory since 1996.

Releasing the water into the environment could provoke community discomfort.

Of the 5,000 cubic metres generated daily, 2,600 cubic metres is treated and reused inside the plant. The rest is too much for the needs of any crop, even rice. Rice usually requires a large amount of water, but that is only at the beginning of the growth process.

So, the remaining quantity is channelled to serve the more than 500-rai five-star 18-hole par-72 golf course in Singha Park, which is dotted with nine lakes, that was recently opened just behind the brewery, a Boon Rawd Brewery subsidiary, in Khon Kaen.

Coupled with its modern architecture clubhouse, the entire golf course looks flawless.

But that's just the beginning and the end of the water route. What's in between is creativity in action. All the systems, processes and crops are there on purpose, and had been planned in advance. Before the treated water is sprinkled over the greens, it has already nourished Chainat 1 rice and Cyperus corymbosus Rottb and gone through a 10-step process in the combination agricultural "wetland".

Once discharged by the factory, the treated water is kept for several days in various ponds to allow the sediment to settle before it is sent into the 4.5-rai cyperus ponds and 49-rai rice field, respectively. Then the water is kept in a few more ponds before being released into the nine lakes that also act as stabilising ponds. The stabilising process prevents algal bloom on the greens.

This slow process is to improve the quality of the water by decreasing the nitrogen and phosphorus present in the water and increasing the oxygen level.

While taking away the nitrogen and phosphorus, the cyperus grows in, and releases oxygen into, the water. Every 45 days, the ponds yield material for weaving 300 mats - a Khon Kaen signature product that can later be crafted into pillows and mattresses.

The first phase of the 100-rai wetland combining a rice field and a multitude of cyperus ponds was completed in less than a year. While the golf course has become probably the greenest part of the region, the cyperus ponds have already brought forth their first crop and are continuing to supply the versatile raw material every 45 days, while the premiere lot of rice grains were harvested last week.

The second phase will apply the concept of combination agriculture, featuring a mixed species of big trees. Despite its isolated location, more trees are being grown in the combination forest area, hopefully to mute the noise coming from the factory into the community. The varieties of vegetation in the offing will not be selected primarily for their beauty, but more to serve as the components of a new learning centre for the region.

The plan is that Singha Park will be expanded to be not only a spacious golfing complex for the public, but also to be a versatile regional sports academy for budding professional athletes.



Writer: Sirinya Wattanasukchai