Many residents have had to leave eastern Shan State’s Mongyawng Township because gold mining has polluted local waterways so badly that previously drinkable water is not even fit to wash dishes. Many residents of Mongyawng Township rely primarily on spring water that feeds into the Namyawng and Namkhat streams. But the water in the streams has begun to change colour and become contaminated due to the chemicals used in upstream gold mining operations in the area of the streams’ source to the north, which are leaching through the ground into the source.