Hazardous Waste Contaminates Rivers near Rangoon

RANGOON — Water pollution is nearing hazardous levels as waste water and chemicals from factories and industrial zones are increasingly discharged into the rivers around Burma's old capital, Rangoon.

"I would say the pollution is at its worst levels, but it is not too late if we can start containing it now,” said an environmental activist. “The main problem is waste water from the factories, which should only discharge waste water after systematic cleaning it. As it is now, the factories and distilleries just dump the waste water out as is."

A man feeding seagulls at the port area along the Rangoon River. (Photo: Getty Images)

The environmentalist, who asked not to be identified, monitors water pollution every three months in the Hlaing, Pegu and Nga Moe Yeik rivers, where 29 streams and watersheds are flowing into. 
 
He said there are 14 industrial zones in Rangoon and a total of 4,388 industries and factories. Many of the industrial zones are along three main rivers, which discharge into the sea near Rangoon. 

Chemicals and waste water from factories decrease the oxygen content in water and settle as sediment on the river bed.

A Rangoon-based zoologist, who also asked to remain anonymous, said pollution in the rivers endanger people who depend on the water for drinking and cooking and also fish and other aquatic life.

She said her studies found that some species of fish and prawn have disappeared from the Pan Hlaing and Hlaing rivers in recent years because of pollution.

"When I started my observation in 1990, I found 21 species of fish and three species of prawn in the Pan Hlaing River. In 2009, it was reduced to 18 species of fish and two species of prawn,” she said.

Hilsas (Hilsa ilisha) in the lower section of the Rangoon River has been declining, she said, and this year, she couldn’t find any hilsas migrating to spawn upstream in the Pegu, Hlaing and Pan Hlaing rivers during their usual mating season in February and March.

The governmental departments charged with managing water resources and rivers have said they are working to reduce water pollution and the discharge of dangerous waste and chemicals.

Meanwhile, the situation is rapidly deteriorating and poses a threat to humans and wildlife, said environmentalists.