"Inside Thailand’s toxic river struggle and the fallout from Myanmar's mines", Channel News Asia, 12 Jun 2026

Thongkham Inprom has been farming for more than six decades, growing jasmine rice and sticky rice in Chiang Rai.

The 71-year-old harvests about 60 tonnes each year [...]

[...] Government agencies have found arsenic in the soil and water at his farm. It is already affecting his crops.

While his brown rice contains arsenic within the safety limit, his paddy is “right at the safety threshold”, [...]

Arsenic has already been found in Thongkham’s urine, [...]

Sukjai Yana, 75, who has fished in northern Thailand for more than five decades, caught “about four or five” deformed fish last year. When that happens, the fish cannot be sold and must be kept for authorities to examine them.

“Heavy metals or chemicals in the water may have weakened the fish’s immune systems, making them more vulnerable to infection,” [...]

“People don’t want to go in or bathe there. … We used to wash our clothes in this river, but now I dare not.”

Downstream in Thailand, agencies are “working at full capacity to solve the problem” [...]

“What we need to do quickly is find alternative inland water sources to bring into the area to support daily water use.”

Authorities [...] are looking at treatment solutions for producing tap water.

[...] To stop the pollution at source, the country has announced plans to have Australia and Japan — major importers of rare earths transiting through Thailand — act as intermediaries in negotiations with Myanmar.

“We also communicate through the Mekong River Commission, which involves several countries connected to the Mekong system.”