Tag : Springwater

Lhasa (Tibet): China is sourcing Tibet's groundwater and springwater and selling them across China in plastic bottles, Tibet Rights Collective reported. China is the biggest plastic polluter on the planet, as per the news report. Bottled water from Tibet is regarded as most clean and pristine in China, Michael Buckley, author of "Meltdown in Tibet" said in the news report. Although bottled water targets Chinese users it increasingly also targets Tibetans themselves as Tibet's once-pristine rivers are no longer trustworthy. Some portions of rivers have become dangerous due to the pollution caused by Chinese mining ventures, with yaks dying from tainted water. It is a case of Chinese entrepreneurs stealing groundwater from Tibet and selling it back to Tibetans, who previously got it for free, Tibet Rights Collective reported. The nomads of Tibet who were once self-sustaining have been reduced to begging. The nomads have been forcibly removed from their traditional grazing lands and settled in concrete ghettoes to make way for so-called 'nature reserves.' The nomads here are entirely dependent on the Chinese government's subsidies which go primarily toward buying necessities like yak milk, cheese, tea and bottled water. Except for the tea, all of these food items were available for free to nomad yak herders. The nomad yak-herders would camp near rivers, lakes and other water sources to fetch their own water, Tibet Rights Collective reported. Now, they need to buy water that Chinese entrepreneurs are bottling by tapping into Tibet's abundant groundwater and spring water. Tibet's reserves of groundwater were never exploited until Tibet came under Chinese control. And not on any scale until 2006 with the beginning of the railway from Go ...