NEW DELHI: There are conflicting reports on whether the ‘blackening’ of the Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh is due to natural causes or Chinese attempts to dam and divert its water before it enters India.
The Siang — which flows down the Tibetan plateau into Arunachal Pradesh to join the Lohit and the Dibang downstream to form the mighty Brahmaputra in Assam — has besiangen in the news because of unusual slag and sedimentation over the past two months, which has turned the water dark and muddy.
The Central Water Commission on Monday said preliminary reports suggest a landslide triggered by an earthquake in Tibet between November 17 and 20 led to the water turning brackish.
“Our initial reports suggest that landslide in upstream region of Siang brought silt and clay... It could also be the result of glacial breach. However, the level of dissolved oxygen in the river is within permissible limits,” said Pradeep Kumar, Member (River Management) Wing, Central Water Commission.
Prof D C Goswami, Department of Environmental science at Guwahati University, said it was unfortunate that neither the state government nor the Centre had been able to find the cause behind the pollution. “There have been reports that it could be because of construction by China but there is no evidence to corroborate it,” he said.
Dr Partha J Das, an environmental researcher of Aaranyak, a Guwahati-based NGO, said nobody knew the real cause but it looked to have come from outside Indian territory.“There are reports of livestock and fish dying because of polluted water but we have no data on water quality or what is making it poisonous,” said Das.
Apart from impacting the drinking water supply and the livelihood of fishermen living along the river, reports said migratory birds at Daying Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, sandwiched between the Siang and one of its tributaries, had started leaving early.
Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu took to Twitter on Saturday: “Inspected the Siang river... near Yingkiong, whose water has turned muddy and black - making it unfit for drinking and aquatic life. Have asked the local administration to furnish detailed report on the situation,” he tweeted.
The same day, a report in China’s state-run Global Times declared that since Arunachal was a part of China, there was no question of China polluting its own river.
Earlier, Ninong Ering, Congress MP representing Arunachal East, had cited reports that China was planning to divert water from the Siang to Xinjiang through a 1,000-km tunnel.