China on Thursday said, a 6.9 earthquake in Tibet is the cause of turbidity in the Brahmaputra waters, which had sparked serious concerns in India. The earthquake rocked Tibet in November.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, added the recent tests showed that the water quality met the standards of Class III water. Class III is regarded as good for fish regeneration and wildlife.
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Earlier, there were concerns of heavy pollution in the Brahmaputra which is also known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh. Hua said “We have noted that Indian media recently made a series of reports on this issue. They said China was conducting water conservancy project or exploiting a mine previously, whereas (they) now claim there is a barrier lake upstream,”.
“I could tell you responsibly that none of these speculations are true according to the results of the investigation by the relevant Chinese authorities,” she added.
She said the 6.9-magnitude earthquake in mid-November hit the area near Mainling county, in Tibet, ‘which might have led to the turbidity in the middle and lower reaches of the river for a certain period of time’.
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“After the earthquake, we monitored the water quality of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Chinese name for the Brahmaputra) river and the results showed that it met the standards of Class III water,” she said.
At the same time, she stressed that the investigation done by China is ‘utterly for humanitarian consideration and does not affect its stance on the border issue.’