Creating Rivers of Ice - Combating Climate Change with Artificial Glaciers

Determined to find a way to harness the ample natural resources nearby, 83-year-old Chewang Norphel developed a pioneering solution - artificial glaciers.

Norphel was born in 1936 to Tibetan parents in Skarra village, 2.5 kilometres from Leh, the main city of Ladakh region.

All 100 families in his village were subsistence farmers, cultivating wheat, barley, mustard and peas to feed themselves and their livestock.

As a child, Norphel tended cows and yaks while his father tilled the hard, crusty soil.

Tucked away in the Himalayas between Pakistan and China, Ladakh is a sweeping expanse of land – rich in history, stark in beauty, colourful in culture and awe-inspiring in its Buddhist heritage.

But misery has clouded this Shangri-La. Ladakh’s greatest enemy is neither its remoteness nor its winter chill, but its aridity.

It’s a cruel case of scarcity amidst abundance. Melting snows generate millions of gallons of water. But as the water flows into the mountain streams too late in the year, most goes to waste.

Nothing grows in Ladakh in winter - it’s too cold. Cultivation is limited to the extremely short season of warmth during spring and summer.

Spring arrives in April, but the great Himalayan glaciers do not begin to melt and replenish the mountain streams until June.

All through the winter, even when the temperature is -15 degrees Celsius, glaciers melt as the sun comes up.

The meltwater does not refreeze since it flows down so fast. It rejoins the Indus and flows away.

Changla reservoir is about 3 miles above sea level.

This is a reservoir built to check the flow of water from the glaciers.

Norphel’s simple technique checks the flow of water by using diversion canals at heights of 12000-15000 ft.

He builds simple bunds using stones and very little mortar. They are held together by an iron mesh.

Water thus collected in the reservoir is let down slowly through narrow outlets. Reduction in the speed of the flow helps to refreeze it.

This was photographed in September of 2005.

Changla artificial glacier as seen in February 2006.

Winter was receding.

This is the highest watershed project in the world.

The Spalding family at Sakthi Village, downstream of the Changla artificial glacier.

The meltwater from the glacier provides for the villagers of Sakthi during summer.

Phutse glacier was the first one built by Norphel.

This is the largest artificial glacier, and it took several months to complete.

A government-run elementary school in Phu Valley, en route to Phutse glacier.

It helps the people of several villages downstream, including Phu.

A view of the rugged mountain range in Sharnu.

Its thirst is quenched by the Phutse artificial glacier.

Chewang Norphel walks the seemingly barren landscape of Ladakh.

If his dream of building a glacier in every village of Ladakh is realised, Ladakhis will be able to grow many more crops during the summer months.

Norphel needs no studies to convince him of the threat of global warming.

With growing alarm, he watches the mighty Himalayan glaciers shrink and recede further from his village with every passing year.

In his childhood, the Stok glacier covered half the distant mountain range that framed his horizon. Now the glacier is a mere icing on the crest.

He yearns to restore the ice caps by building more glaciers.

And he sees the urgent need to build reservoirs in every one of Leh’s 112 villages, to harness the water instead of letting it all go waste into the mighty Indus River in autumn.

India, he notes, spends Rs. 2 crores* (approx. 283,000 USD) a day on maintaining its troops on the Siachen glacier.

One day’s military expenditure on this icy wasteland could build 50 glaciers in Ladakh.

*Some estimates peg this at Rs.5 crores per day (50 million USD).

But Norphel sees no grandeur in his achievements.

He remains modest even after winning numerous accolades and prestigious national and international awards.

What does he think helped him succeed in his efforts? He says, cheerfully:

“People’s cooperation. You have to make people share your vision, participate in your dream.

"Without people’s cooperation, you cannot achieve anything.”