Environmental conservationist Sassin Chiemmalaph argues that the Wang Tong reservoir project's environmental impact assessment (EHIA) missed a critical middle ground: reducing the reservoir capacity from the planned 99.5 million cubic meters to 60–80 million cubic meters could maintain adequate water supply while minimizing forest damage. He contends the dam is feasible if recalibrated to balance water needs with habitat preservation, since Chanthaburi's high rainfall allows continuous water replenishment even at lower storage levels. The core failure of EHIA, he says, was asking "how to mitigate impact after construction" instead of "how to redesign to prevent impact from the start."