On a bitingly cold winter day in Ladakh, Chewang Norphel was leaving for work, hen he spotted a pipe of running water outside his home had flowed into a nearby pit and frozen there.
That chance observation helped Norphel find a solution that would considerably mitigate the water woes of the region.
Looking at the pit of frozen water made Norphel, a civil engineer, wonder if there was any way to create an artificial glacier that would provide people with water.
What is an ‘artificial’ glacier and how does it work?
In the months of November and December, water is diverted towards the shady side of the mountain, where it can slow down, and freeze (in a way that quickly-flowing water will not).
The entire mountain slope then becomes an artificial glacier, and efforts are made to trap every drop of water in the winter which would otherwise be wasted.
The artificial glacier is located between a village and a natural glacier at different altitudes so as to ensure the water melts at different times.
The artificial glacier located closest to the village/at the lowest altitude melts first, and provides irrigation water at the crucial sowing time in the months of April, May.
As the temperature rises, the next glacier — which is located at a higher altitude — then melts, and as this process of glaciers melting at different times continues, there is assured irrigation for the fields below.
Thirty years ago, when Norphel first proposed this solution, he was laughed at.