Indian Engineer Creating Small Artificial Glaciers To Keep Irrigation Water Running - Independent

[hatrack]

At times, the moonscape land of Ladakh can appear as dry as a desert. In this most northerly part of India, tucked high in the Himalayas, there is virtually no rainfall and almost 75 per cent of the local farmers rely on meltwater from the glaciers to irrigate their once-a-year crops.

It was in Ladakh, confronted by receding glaciers – currently at the centre of an increasingly bitter dispute between scientists and Delhi – that Chewang Norphel, a government engineer, hit upon an idea to use nature to give the locals a helping hand with growing more food.

Seeing how much fresh water was wasted during the winter – as villagers left their taps running to prevent them freezing solid – and noticing the way that they stored snow on shaded areas of the mountain, he decided to create his own artificial glaciers. That was more than a decade ago. Now, with funding from the Indian army – which is keen to maintain the support of local people in a strategically sensitive area close to the border with China – Mr Norphel has created 10 artificial glaciers and is planning more.

Crucially he has constructed them at lower elevations than the naturally occurring glaciers so that they melt at least a month earlier, providing the farmers with an opportunity to produce a second harvest of wheat, barley, peas and potatoes.

EDIT

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/creating-glaciers-out-of-thin-air-1875472.html

[aquart]

1. Cool.

Used his head and no one chopped it off.

[Wilms]

2. That is quite a saying!

Excellent.

[thunder rising]

3. Jeezus ... their packing snow in a shady spot ... big deal..

[Mopar151]

4. If you do not understand, why do you condemm?