Will MRC acknowledge the crisis?

“If the river could cry, it would have cried already. But now it is me who can no longer hold back tears — because I can no longer use the Mekong River.”

- PIANPORN DEETES

Those were the words of Boontham, a 73-year-old fisherman in Ban Sob Kok in Chiang Rai, on the day he learned that the river he had lived with all his life was contaminated with toxic substances. Overnight, without warning and without any remedies, he lost not only his livelihood — but the river that had sustained his family for generations.

The tragedy unfolding today across mainland Southeast Asia is larger and more urgent than many realise. Our two major transboundary rivers — the Mekong and the Salween — are now in a state of emergency. Scientific tests show dangerous levels of heavy metal contamination far beyond safety limits, posing serious risks to public health and ecosystems.

Since local communities and civil society groups in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, including the Shan Human Rights Foundation, first raised the alarm about illegal mining in the upper Kok, Sai, and Mekong tributaries, every round of Thailand's official water-quality tests — 12 consecutive times — has detected arsenic above national standards. This polluted water flows directly into the lower Mekong. Most recently, arsenic levels above the safety threshold have been found at the Thai-Lao border in Loei, Nong Khai, opposite Vientiane, and Nakhon Phanom.