3 days Ago
The report of flash flooding in the Sai River in Chiang Rai yesterday has renewed fears among local communities that floods and mudslides will return in ever greater numbers. Their fears are valid. In less than an hour, the flooding in the Sai River swelled to knee level, forcing villagers along the river to move their property and elders, as well as bedridden patients, out of harm's way.
Last year, the plight of communities along the Sai and Kok rivers in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai provinces made national media headlines when they were hit by floods and mud slides that came from upstream in Shan State, Myanmar. It took months for the communities to clear the debris and remove the vast piles of dried mud from their houses. Now, local villagers are again questioning whether their communities will face similar woes, as concerns have arisen that the man-made structures the government has installed to combat flooding may not be effective in protecting them.
Land use in Shan State, where the Sai and Kok rivers originate, has deteriorated. Over the past five years, much of the watershed forest area in Shan State has been converted into rudimentary open-pit gold mines and mineral extraction sites. As a result, natural forests that helped absorb floods disappeared, and red soil was carried down the river.
Indeed, floods and mudslides are not the only problems with the Sai and Kok rivers. Lest we forget, the Chiang Rai provincial governor put up signs asking people not to use water in the Kok River in March this year. The warning came after the Pollution Control Department's water sampling showed that arsenic levels exceeded safety standards.
Arsenic is a byproduct of gold mine extraction. Meanwhile, this week, there were reports of fish in the river suffering associated side effects and skin problems. What is worrying is the government's response.
Despite the growing scale of the problem, national and local governments still treat it like another natural disaster. It is not. With the gold mines upstream, communities downstream will only suffer disproportionately from more severe floods and mudslides.
Without practical environmental protection efforts being applied to these gold mines, toxic residue will end up in the rivers. But it is unfair to blame only the gold mines in Myanmar. Natural land along both transboundary rivers has also been urbanised, and natural low-lying areas that absorb floodwaters have become scarcer.
The government needs to add more natural floodplains to communities along the river, and they must act on this now. The Sai and Kok rivers are the latest examples of transboundary pollution that require government-to-government solutions. On April 14, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra publicly spoke about the arsenic contamination in the river.
Known to have strong ties with the Myanmar government, Thaksin said that the Thai government "can handle the issue". But we have yet to see any meaningful development in that regard. These issues are, more broadly, a reflection of the mindset of governments that favour short-term band-aid solutions.
Flood prevention for the government primarily involves rescue operations, evacuation, and building stronger structures. Without a change in attitude, the government is more of a cause of problems and not the solution provider it should be..
