Gob Khodkham, a 42-year-old resident of Thaton’s Kaeng Sai Mool patch village, shows a photo of some rashes that developed on his skin in April. Mr. Gob was among the first group of community residents who developed unusual symptoms after physical contact with the Kok River, but was not tested immediately by public health officials. It was only in mid-August that he underwent a checkup. He questions: Why did he have to seek testing instead of officials acting promptly and testing him in the first place? Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Front Page Photo Essay

PHOTO ESSAY: Living in Fear

By Piyaporn W. / October 17, 2025
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Local residents along the northern rivers bordering Myanmar are now living in fear, concerned as much about the impacts from the transboundary toxic pollution caused by unregulated mining upstream in Myanmar as on their uncertain future

The golden rays of the afternoon sun penetrate the overcast sky in the late rainy season, spreading their glow over 59-year-old Thip Khamlue’s two-rai riverside field near the Kok River in Mai Mhok Jam village in the far northern district of Mai Ai, bordering Thailand’s Chiang Mai province and Myanmar’s Shan State. 

Some of her “ladies” have been left strained under the sunlight as the field had been swamped by mud-laden floodwaters twice already during the past months. But Ms. Thip still considers herself somewhat lucky because she had managed to harvest some yield of this special species of Okra plants, the family’s main source of income.

It is the next growing season, this coming November, that she feels uncertain about. 

“They said they would come to inspect the soil in my field before I grow the next crop to check if it had been affected by the toxic contamination in the river. My field is not next to the river; it’s farther than 30 metres, which they said is deemed safe. Hopefully, it will survive the toxic contamination spilling over from the river,” said Ms. Thip, her tone reflecting doubt.

The toxic pollution that is crossing the border into Thailand from Myanmar’s upstream areas as a result of unregulated mining is now causing anxiety and taking a psychological toll on the local residents downstream. (Read: SPECIAL REPORT: The Poisoned Rivers: From gold to rare earth, unregulated mining in Myanmar poisons the Mekong and its tributaries in Northern Thailand)

It’s not just Ms. Thip. Tens of thousands of farmers and residents in this bordering district and several more in Chiang Rai, where the Kok, Sai, Ruak and the Mekong Rivers pass through, share her concerns about the growing uncertainty in their lives. Water, food … they are no longer sure what is safe for consumption.

Since the issue broke out in March, these residents have been kept in the dark about the levels of toxic pollution and contamination. Scant and scattered information from state officials has not helped matters. In some areas, like Thaton, the residents are posing hard questions: they want to know if there has been a cover-up, especially regarding sensitive issues relating to their health.

“They (community-based health-promoting hospital) told us to wait for the test results, but I have not heard anything from them as to when I will know my test result or my sickness,” said Gob Khodkham, a 42-year-old resident of Thaton’s Kaeng Sai Mool patch village. His urine was sent for tests months after some rashes developed on his skin in April following his long hours in the water working on a bamboo raft for visitors during the Songkran festival to earn some money.

Shortly after the incident, local state officials, starting from those of the Pollution Control Department’s Environmental and Pollution Control Office 1 (Chiang Mai), started their investigation. They formed a team to conduct water testing along the 300-kilometre Kok River before extending their testing elsewhere, including the Mekong River. 

Other local government agencies responsible for water consumption, fisheries, agricultural production, and public health, then followed as instructed by their main agencies and the government.

But according to some concerned local officials, their testing and monitoring plans are limited in scope as they are extensively tied up with the annual budget. Some of the work had to be integrated into their routine monitoring work, they said.

So their work is not quite as comprehensive and consistent as it is supposed to be, the officials admitted. For instance, the very first tests on fish and farm crops were conducted on only a few samples due to budget constraints. 

In Chiang Mai province or on the Sai River in Chiang Rai, for example, the officials managed to set up just one location in each area for fishery sample collection, despite the fact that effective surveillance of toxic substances needs scientific planning and spans a long period of time —at least five 5 years for fishery— as it takes time for these substances to accumulate in aquatic animals and show effects. 

So far, most of the officials’ testing and monitoring, except for those from the PCD’s Office 1, have shown similar results: no toxic substances were found, and if found, they were below the permissible limits. It’s only recently that the test results on water for household consumption showed lead contamination in up to 18 villages along the Kok River. This was not disclosed to the public but was revealed by a Chiang Mai MP of the opposition People’s Party, Phattarapong Leelaphat, who has been following up on the issue with the government.

The results on health monitoring are far more complicated, as the results of large-scale testing in the two provinces during late July have not yet been disclosed to the public.

Some observers have noted that the data of the officials has not been aggregated and integrated to help form a dataset that is solid and comprehensive enough to help the government frame proper policies or devise solutions to this problem. And when it comes to information dissemination and communication with the public and affected residents, there are serious shortcomings as they are either scant, scattered or inaccessible.

Mr. Gob, who has been waiting for the test result on his health, remarked: “They hardly tell us anything —whether we are sick or what we have to do next? We are just left to worry and worry.”

But amid growing concerns and frustrations of the residents, impacts on the ground have started to be felt in several communities along the rivers. 

The residents are now staying away from their rivers. There has hardly been any fishing in the rivers for months, while other activities have almost come to a halt, including tourism or even traditional events like Songkran celebrations.

And more critically, safe water and soil have become scarce, driving people to desperately search for the resources they can trust — to simply live.

A cartoon-style healthcare handout from state agencies has been distributed to communities along the rivers. Several residents question: How can we know if their water sources or food are safe?
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
A child and his grandmother in Thaton’s Kaeng Sai Mool patch village were randomly selected for urine testing for toxic substances. No reasons were given to them on why they were chosen, according to the child’s grandmother. The child was found to have arsenic in his body, and his urine was tested again. The family has been waiting for the test result, without knowing what to do. The officials did not tell them anything about what they should do about their health, according to the grandmother.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
The Public Health Ministry launched a large-scale testing of residents’ urine in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai in late July. The risk groups, mostly residents living near the rivers or having physical contact with the rivers, were provided with a risk assessment form before some of them were chosen as samples for testing. In Chiang Rai alone, over 2,000 residents at risk were shortlisted and 300 samples were chosen, according to a high-ranking public health official in the province. So far, the test results have not been disclosed to the public, but there have been unconfirmed reports that at least seven people in Chiang Rai had arsenic levels beyond the permissible limit in their bodies.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
A resident of Mae Muang Noi village in Mae Na Wang subdistrict, next to Thaton, Chiang Mai, shows a bottle of water from her well. She brought it to the officials from the PCD’s Office 1 to test it for her during a community meeting in the village, where the officials and their colleagues from other offices came to meet the residents to update them about their test results. Such a mobile meeting is an attempt by local officials to reach out to the residents, as the government’s local information centres have failed to reach them. Hardly anyone comes to see the staff deployed there or reads the results posted on a board.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
Ms. Thip’s surviving okra yield cannot be sold any more, as it has become unhealthy for the market following flooding. This special species of Okra vegetation gives her a subsistence income of up to tens of thousands of baht. Farmers who have fields by the river tend to maximise the use of their fields, rotating crops to meet market demands to sustain their income. Their livelihoods, however, have become more uncertain due to the toxic pollution and contamination.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
A view of the riverside fields along the Kok River in Mae Ai district, Chiang Mai. Farmers who own the fields grow various types of crops, from short-lived vegetables to rice to fruits like mangos and oranges. They rely on water from the river and shallow wells, as well as groundwater. Their water sources are shrinking due to looming fears of toxic contamination.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
The riverside fields by the Kok River and elsewhere are naturally floodplain areas that are flooded seasonally. Residents by the Kok River say that in recent years, the waters flooding their fields have become muddier and sediment-laden. This is causing deterioration of the quality of the soil, adding to their burden to clear them from their submerged fields. This year, it’s the toxic substances that are threatening their fields.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
Pathompong Ritphang, the president of a water user group, Fai Chiang Rai (Chiang Rai sluice gate) in Chiang Rai, is worried about the next rice cropping season and the future of farmers in his group, as they rely on water for irrigation from the sluice gate, which draws water from the Kok River. According to the Agricultural Office in Chiang Rai, more than 7,000 farmers grow rice on around 90,000 rai (14,400 hectares) by the river. Along the Sai River, where some toxic substances were also detected, more than 1,000 farmers grow rice on over 20,000 rai (3,200 hectares).
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

A few fish samples, including alien sucker fish feeding on the riverbed, caught in the Sai River, can be seen before being sent to a lab for testing. Local fishery officials have put extensive efforts into collecting these live samples, as it’s not easy to collect them. This prompts the number of samples they find each time varies, they said. The officials also tried to set up as many locations as they could along the rivers: a total of 21 locations so far — 20 in Chiang Rai, and only one in Chiang Mai. To monitor toxic substances in aquatic animals takes time, and it needs systematic planning and adequate budget, both of which are currently absent from the government’s plans and policies, the officials said. The test results so far have not shown toxic contamination beyond the acceptable standard, but fishery officials in responsible areas tend to inform the residents not to consume fish from those rivers.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

La-orsri Mabangkru, 61, once owned a popular wooden restaurant in Thaton, Chan Kasem. For over 40 years, it was a must-visit restaurant for visitors to Thaton. Located on the riverside, the restaurant enjoyed a good location that enabled visitors to get a scenic view of the Kok River, though the location was also susceptible to flooding. But there was never a time in her 40 years of running the restaurant when the risk was as high as in the last few years. The torrential floodwaters are now mud-laden, causing a lot of damage, La-orsri said. During last year’s floods in September, brought by Typhoon Yagi, the mud-laden run-off swept away her restaurant and left almost nothing for her family. La-orsri rebuilt her restaurant in a more modern style and hoped that visitors would return to her restaurant. It was just in March this year that the toxic pollution issue broke out, making people wary. La-orsri has seen customers to her restaurant dwindle from over a hundred a day to just a few. She has no idea when tourism in this remote town will revive.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Since the issue broke out in March, the impacts have been felt by local residents as their livelihoods and occupations have been affected. Karen Ruammitre village, a popular eco-tourism village by the Kok River in Mae Yao subdistrict in Chiang Rai province, has been affected by a lack of visitors who used to come to see the elephants. Mahouts are struggling to take care of their giant animals, as they too are unsure whether the food and water they provide their elephants are safe. They have already decided to stop bathing their elephants in the river for fear they could be sickened by the toxic water. They have invested in building an artificial tank and a tap water system connected to water sources on the mountains further away to ensure that their animals will have safe water to drink and bathe.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

In Chiang Rai, scientists at the Chiang Rai Provincial Waterworks Authority Office have been busy testing samples of their office’s tap water. In recent years, especially since last year, the office has detected increasing turbidity that has added to its burden to ensure safe tap water for the people.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
The Chiang Rai PWA office is responsible for the production of tap water for Chiang Rai residents living in the district of Mueang Chiang Rai, the city’s centre, and the adjacent Wiang Chai district, for a total of around 40,000 to 100,000 residents. It uses the raw water from the Kok River, but the increasing turbidity and the toxic pollution in the river have stretched their resources thin. They are faced with the existing challenge of providing adequate supply for the residents. Recently, the PWA decided to find new water sources to replace the Kok River after the officials at the Chiang Rai office and civil society in Chiang Rai raised the issue and the looming pressure from the toxic pollution.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad
A team from Chiang Mai PCD Office 1 collects water samples in the Kok River at the first location, named KK01. It was designated as close to the Thai-Myanmar border as possible, at around 600 metres from it.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

A water sample from KK01 near the Thai-Myanmar border.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Since late March, staff members at PCD’s Office 1 have been travelling back and forth to locations along the rivers, including the Mekong, which is among their last locations for the collection of water samples for toxic substance testing. The first location in the Mekong was designated near the Golden Triangle, where the borders of the three countries meet. It’s named MK01.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

This photo essay is part of the SPECIAL REPORT SERIES: Environmental Challenges under the Great Power’s Influences.

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