CHIANG RAI, Thailand — Just days before the water fights were set to erupt across Chiang Rai for Songkran — Thailand’s New Year celebration, held every April and known for its festive street soakings — the city’s residents received a sobering warning: avoid contact with the Kok River, which winds through this northern Thai city […]

  • Water tests from the Kok and Sai rivers near Thailand’s border with Myanmar have revealed elevated arsenic levels, leading Thai officials to warn citizens to avoid contact with river water.

  • The pollution is widely believed to be linked to unregulated mining in Myanmar’s Shan state.

  • Extraction of gold in Shan State has surged in the years since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar; more recently, mounting evidence suggests rare earth mining is also expanding across the state.

  • Elevated arsenic levels have also been found at testing points in the Mekong, which is fed by both the Kok and Sai rivers.