Tanzin Dorje can remember a time he could drink straight from the stream that runs through Ladakh’s main town Leh.

“Today, such a sight has become a dream,” he sighed. The huge number of tourists Ladakh receives now has not only changed peoples’ outlook, but both water quality and availability.

In Ladakh, often referred to as the land of freezing winds and burning sunlight, people once lived on livestock-rearing and farming. But after they found out the road to quick money lay in creating infrastructure for tourists, that was what they started doing everywhere.

More:  http://www.thethirdpole.net/tourists-toilet-habits-flush-himalayan-town-dry/