Sri Lankan Facebook users have recirculated an old photo of a corroded water pipe in Thailand, along with a false claim that it was taken in the island nation. The image was first shared online by Thai users who complained about the condition of the kingdom’s water pipes in 2016 – which Thai authorities said had been replaced.
“To know the real condition of a water pipe in Sri Lanka, it has to be broken. You better know this. However, it is good to boil water before drinking it,” the Sinhala-language newspaper said. Facebook Caption next to the photo shared on June 19, 2024.
A similar statement shared here went on to falsely suggest that the condition of the pipe was exposed after it was hit for a car in a town on the outskirts of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on June 17 (archived link).
“This is the water pipe that was broken by the car. Look at the water pipe that people say is clean,” the post said.
Similar false claims have been made here It is here.
Some users seemed to believe the image genuinely showed a water pipe in Sri Lanka.
“What is the dirt inside this country? If people see this, they will say no to water,” commented one user.
“We also have this type of pipe in our region,” said another.
The false messages circulated online in this financially struggling island nation, which raised water tariffs at the end of 2023 following an unprecedented economic crisis, after running out of currency to pay for imports.
AFP reported on June 25, 2024, that the South Asian country had finalized long-delayed debt agreements with its bilateral creditors, including China, to meet a key condition of an IMF bailout, the government said.
Water pipe in Thailand
The Sri Lanka National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) said in a Facebook comment left in one of the fake posts that the claim was “fake news” (archived link).
Reverse image searches found the photo was originally published in 2016 here (archived link).
The message was posted by residents of a community on the outskirts of Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, to highlight the poor condition of a local water pipe.
Metropolitan Water Authority of Thailand (MWA) responded on Facebook to the 2017 complaints, which contained the photo in the false posts (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the fake post (left) and the MWA post (right):
The MWA post said the pipe in the photo had not been used since April 2016, when it was removed from Lat Krabang, an eastern suburb of Bangkok.
He also stated that the yellowish substance inside the tube had accumulated over time due to particles found in the water and that the water passing through it was of good quality because the deposit did not mix with the water.
