Tibet Enviroment

In an open China, Tibet is drawing more and more tourists from all over the world. Besides the unique culture and the strange land, many foreign tourists come to Tibet to see the bluest skies and breathe the purest air in the world. Their wishes are sure to be fulfilled. Many have been fascinated by the clear reflections of the blue skies, white clouds, snow- capped mountain tops and green woods in the limpid water surface and by the resplendent roofs of the temples in the sun. Evidently, air and water, both essential to human existence, keep their best quality in Tibet.

Statistics may seem dry but they mean science after all. As is monitored, discharges of industrial waste gas, waste water and waste materials in Tibet are of small amount. In 1993, in the whole Tibetan Autonomous Region the total discharge of waste gas was 1,474 million cubic metres, of which that of industrial waste gas accounted for 954 million cubic metres; the total discharge of waste water was 40.77 million tons, of which that of industrial waste water accounted for 25.77 million tons; solid industrial waste materials amounted to 260 tons, with cumulative heaps only totalling 76,000 tons.

Many noted rivers run along the Tibetan plateau. Except in the rainy seasons when the torrential rain would wash earth and sand from the mountains, all the rivers are charmingly clear for the rest of the year. Especially in the low-sea level southeast part of Tibet, where the rivers pass through wood-clad valleys, the green mountains and emerald water present very enchanting scenery. The water of Tibet's mother river, the Yarlung Zangbo River, and of its tributaries attains the first grade by state standards and is drinkable without any treatment. Even the Lhasa River, which runs past the capital of the Autonomous Region, has water of very good quality, too, for the colon bacillus averages below 500 per litre daily, the PH value is around 7, the saturation rate of dissolved oxygen is above 90 per cent and the content of cyanide, arsenic, lead and other toxic substances is all but zero. When the traditional ''Bathing Festival'' comes round in the seventh month of the Tibetan calendar, thousands upon thousands of Tibetans would bathe in the limpid ''sacred'' water most joyfully.

Tibetan environmentalists may take pride in the fact that so far no case of pollution, acid rain or man-made radioactivity has occurred in Tibet. As verfied by the Environmental Protection Bureau of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, the natural radioactivity of the various areas in Tibet meets the State ¡§radiation protection¡¨ requirements; it is on a par with the normal case of world land areas and in agreement with the report of the UNSCEAR.