Finally it’s official. The State Water Quality Testing Laboratory (SWQTL), Arunachal Pradesh has stated in it’s report that the water of the Siang river, which has turned dark and muddy, has become unfit for human consumption.
The laboratory under the Arunachal Pradesh Public Health Engineering and Water Supply (Sanitation) department, in its report, has said the water of the Siang is unfit for human consumption.
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The report further stated that the Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) content of the water sample was 482, while the iron content was recorded at 1.65 mg/litre, which was beyond the permissible limits.
According to an official report, the water sample of the river was sent to the laboratory by the Water Resources Department’s Executive Engineer, Tamo Jamoh, on November 29 last.
According to experts, at normal level, iron is not deadly for the aquatic animals, but unusually high amounts of iron in water may lead to adverse changes in its colour, odour and taste and also have negative effects on the aquatic animals’ behaviour and health.
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Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has been showing serious concerns for the last few days and had drawn the attention of the Centre on the river’s contamination, which he said might have been caused due to activities on the Chinese side and asked the Government of India to take up the matter with Beijing.
Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Pradesh Ninong Ering had last month written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard, noting that the water of the river changing its colour was an unusual phenomenon in the winter months.
The Siang river enters India after flowing through the Tibetan plateau as Yarlung Tsangpo. It flows through Arunachal Pradesh for about 230 km to reach Pasighat and then joins the Lohit and the Dibang to form the Brahmaputra river in Assam.