China will maintain communication with India on efforts to manage the massive lakes formed by landslips on the Brahmaputra in Tibet following an earthquake last month, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday. The formation of these lakes had triggered fears of a sudden flooding on the Indian side.

Reports say three huge artificial lakes, whose size and the volume of water impounded are yet to be ascertained, were formed in the Brahmaputra, locally known as the Yarlung Tsangpo, due to landslips after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Tibet.

The massive accumulation of water has caused concerns that if the lakes merge or overflow, millions of people downstream along the banks of both the Siang (in Arunachal Pradesh) and the Brahmaputra (in Assam) would be affected.

“The Chinese side, through the existing channels, will maintain communication with the Indian side on the cross-border rivers,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told presspersons here.

Ms. Hua said verification by the Chinese authorities had revealed that the lakes were on the eastern section of the India-China boundary.

Earlier, China had denied reports that the water in the Siang river had turned highly polluted because of attempts to build a massive tunnel to divert the water to the arid Xinjiang region. The issue was reportedly discussed at the recent talks between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi.