Community Networks Oppose Yom River Diversion Project

On July 4, 2025, community networks representing the Yom, Ngao, Moei, and Salween river basins, along with academics and lawyers, released a statement opposing government efforts to expedite the Bhumibol Dam water augmentation project (Yom River diversion scheme). The groups addressed calls from authorities to rush the project, citing an October 2025 expiration of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.

The networks clarified that their 2023 court petition to the Chiang Mai Administrative Court did not aim to obstruct development or water shortage solutions. Rather, it invoked constitutional rights to ensure the EIA process and state decisions were legally sound, as both contain significant defects that could cause severe environmental, natural resource, and public rights damage.

The statement emphasized that this project extends far beyond a simple water tunnel. It would devastate ecosystems across the Yom, Ngao, Moei, and Salween rivers through upstream forest loss, tunnel excavation creating massive stone and mineral deposits, road construction, and disruption of local communities' livelihoods—costs that cannot be measured in monetary terms alone.

Criticially, the statement warned that the Salween River's condition has changed dramatically due to expanded gold, rare earth, and strategic mineral mining in Myanmar's upper regions. Testing has revealed cyanide and toxic heavy metal contamination across multiple areas. Diverting Salween water into Thailand's Chao Phraya basin risks introducing these contaminants into the nation's water system.

The statement further argued that the Yom diversion may not effectively solve the Chao Phraya basin's long-term water shortage, since the core issue stems from inadequate water management rather than insufficient water volume alone. The massive investment exceeding 100 billion baht warrants review based on current academic data, economic viability, and environmental impacts. There are also concerns about public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements potentially placing water resource management under private and foreign corporate control—a highly sensitive matter.

While acknowledging farmers' hardships in the lower Ping basin, the networks called on the government to address water management seriously but not at the expense of other regions' people and natural resources. Major project decisions must rest on rule of law, academic rigor, transparency, and genuine public participation. The government should not rush approval simply because the EIA expires; instead, it should use this opportunity to review all scientific evidence comprehensively and consider canceling the project, particularly given altered environmental conditions and water quality. Alternative, efficient, equitable water management approaches serving all river basins should be studied to ensure sustainable national water solutions.