MAE HONG SON — Local authorities in Sop Moei district have ordered residents to stop using water from the Salween River and to avoid consuming fish caught from it, after tests found arsenic contamination five times higher than the national safety limit.
District chief Kamphan Mokthaisong convened an urgent meeting on November 3 at the Mae Suad Subdistrict Administrative Organization office, following a report from Chiang Mai University’s Environmental Science Research Center. The findings showed arsenic levels well above the legal threshold in samples collected near Ban Tha Ta Fang, where the river flows through Mae Sariang district before reaching Sop Moei.
Kamphan said local agencies have been instructed to alert the public through village loudspeakers and social media. “We are urging people to avoid direct contact with the river and to refrain from eating fish from the Salween until further confirmation,” he said.
Villagers worried, seek official clarity
Village headman Suwat Samajit of Ban Tha Ta Fang said residents first learned of the contamination through social media, with family members sharing warnings online. “People are very concerned. We depend on the river for everything — fishing, bathing, washing — and during the dry season we rely on it for household use,” he said.
He added that villagers are unsure whether the contamination will affect crops grown along the riverbanks. “In November, when the water recedes, people plant vegetables, beans, and tobacco on the moist sandbars. No one knows if the toxins will seep into the soil or crops,” Suwat said.
While families have already banned children from swimming in the river, he noted that buffalo still wade and bathe in the water as usual. “So far, no government officials have visited to explain the health risks or give us guidance,” he said.
The contamination report has heightened public anxiety in Mae Hong Son province, where communities along the Salween depend heavily on the river for their livelihoods. Further investigation into the source of the pollution is underway.
This is a translation of original Thai article https://transbordernews.in.th/home/?p=44351
