PHUKET: The photo above represents a prime example of the need for a comprehensive strategy now to save Phuket's beaches.

Yesterday at Koh Sireh - one of Phuket's least threatened spots - we came across this bad water being piped straight onto a beach . . . from a Thai cooking school.

The bad water smelled like urine. Just a few metres away, a naked infant was being dipped into the sea by a bigger sibling.

Another child was building sandcastles nearby.

At the Thai cooking school, soon after the bad water seeped through onto the sand, a class of students emerged onto the patio and sat at tables by the sea to enjoy the meals they had probably just prepared.

Did they know about the beach pollution? Probably not. They - and other tourists - need to know, before it's too late.

This week's plea to save Phuket's beaches by Wichit Na-Ranong owner of the Indigo Pearl at Nai Yang, south of Phuket International Airport, was timely.

It came with the release of new regulations, designed to protect Phuket's environment. Yet all we have seen is a nice blue ring around a new map of Phuket, where once there was blank space.

Who is going to protect Phuket's beaches and enforce existing laws?

WE KNOW that businesses are not supposed to encroach on the sand. Yet they do, with impunity - especially at Surin, once one of Phuket's best beaches, and now its worst example.

WE KNOW that bad water is not supposed to be piped onto the beaches. Yet the illegal pipes, from all reports, are increasing, not decreasing.

WE KNOW that the existing authorities are supposed to protect the beaches. Yet it is these authorities that allegedly take bribes and allow the beaches to be despoiled.

The view of Khun Wichit is that unless action is taken now, the destruction and misappropriation of Phuket's beaches will continue.

When Phuketwan visited a number of Phuket's best-known beaches in a survey earlier this year, we were surprised at the change for the worse.

This was especially true at Surin and at nearby Laem Singh, where restaurants, loud music, the spread of beach loungers, vendors and self-interest are speeding the destruction of Phuket's most precious natural attraction.

Jet-skis, parasailers and other motorised forms of ''water sport'' continue to ruin the Phuket beach experience for thousands of holidaymakers at Patong, Kamala and Kata.

There is nothing worse for people wanting to relax in or near the sea on a tropical island than having a jet-ski roar past, too close.

It was evident at Laem Sing, a small beach, that Phuket's natural beauty is no longer considered to have any value.

Leading Patong businessman Preechavude ''Dr Prab'' Keesin has already said that he would prefer to see tourists hiring towels rather than have Patong covered in beach loungers.

Earlier this year on pristine Layan beach, a Phuketwan reader's video caught officials burying bags of garbage in the sand. Another reader filmed rogue tourists riding ATVs along a beach in a Phuket national park.

Now Khun Wichit has said publicly what everyone was thinking: that Phuket's tourism industry is being destroyed by allowing the beaches to be privatised.

Tourists may enjoy a meal on the beach, but they need to understand that their illicit pleasure probably means that some of Phuket's best-loved beaches will be covered by loungers and restaurants before many more high seasons pass.

The people who should be enforcing the law look the other way - and probably get paid as much if not more to not do their job.

What Phuket now desperately needs is a single new coastal authority capable of protecting the beaches, empowered to enforce existing laws and to drive back the greedy commercial operators who seek to privatise Phuket's sands.

It's time for the Phuket Governor's advisers - and for people who really love Phuket - to speak out.

No more greedy encroachment. No more bad water. Save Phuket's beaches now.