Khaung Tong Creek was a 1.5-meter deep, pristine creek some 10 years ago, but these days this important tributary of Kachin State’s famed Indawgyi Lake is just a little stream some 10 cm deep, filled with red-brownish mud.
Local villagers said years of unregulated gold mining several kilometres away has caused the environmental degradation as dumped waste and chemicals has flowed into the stream.
“The water in this creek was clean when I was young, but it has turned into a muddy stream. Groups of gold miners can be found upstream of the creek. It is threatening Indawgyi Lake’s environment,” Yan Khaung, a native of the area and a local coordinator for Myanmar branch of UK-based Fauna and Flora International, told me during a recent visit to the lake in northern Myanmar. (Courtesy of Mizzima)
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