Worse, water is becoming scarce. Tourists use up 60% of the island's water and it is becoming scarce in the tourist-heavy south of the island. Water tables have dropped 50 meters under parts of the island over the last 10 years. 60% of watersheds are now officially 'dry'.
She focuses on Canggu which she was sent to cover for a magazine 3 years ago. Then it was the new 'in' destination. Since then it has been ruined by development.tourism operators with deep pockets can drill further underground for water “literally suck[ing] up their neighbours’ water . . . The damage could become irreversible once aquifers suffer saltwater intrusion, rendering the groundwater useless for domestic purposes.”
I used to love the simplicity of Bali, staying in a hotel which was just a series of huts on a hill with gauze netting as windows and showers which were buckets with holes on a rope, the hope being there would be enough water left by the time you pulled it above your head. I loved the friendliness of the Balinese.I loved walking through the rice paddies everywhere hearing to the faint sound of gamelin orchestras. I loved learning about Balinese culture. I loved the almost ritualistic walk to a stream or a water spigot around 5:00 pm when men, young and old, would strip off and wash. I fell in love with those glistening brown naked bodies.We could be anywhere – but we’re in Bali – and all of this is new. The rice paddies have been gobbled up, and this sprawling replica hipster-urban village has sprung up in their place, like the saloon set on a Western movie . . . we’re killing Canggu
My hotel was just outside Ubud. I stayed 10 times in 5 years. Tourism development in the early 1980s was slow and concentrated around Kuta and Sanur. But over those years I could see its onward march.
I only returned once. In 2005 my bf really wanted to visit. I was hesitant but agreed. My heart sank. The Ubud I knew was destroyed. The ketchak dance we went to one evening was totally tourist oriented. It was nothing like my earlier experiences when I had felt a guest in a large Balinese family. I have never been back and nothing would take me back. I prefer just to remember the amazing island as it used to be.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... the-locals