Ice man confronts global warming

 

 

When global warming began to suck the last traces of moisture from the arid lands of Ladakh, 74-year-old Chewang Norphel had two options. He could either enjoy his life post-retirement from government service, or confront the phenomenon. He knew the devastating consequences of climate change, for he had spent almost 40 years serving as a civil engineer in villages across Ladakh. Today, Norphel has created ten artificial glaciers that replenish agricultural fields in Ladakh and serve as a unique and inspirational lesson for the world struggling with the multifarious effects of global warming.

When Norphel retired in 1994, rising global temperatures had already shrunk natural glaciers in Ladakh, and had made the snow line rise by 100 metres. At places, glaciers had receded by as much as 7 to 8 kilometres! The amount of snowfall received had also been steadily diminishing. The result was that little water was available to farmers in rural Ladakh during the crucial sowing season in March. “The problems were so intense that I could not turn my eyes away from them,” says Norphel.

The challenge Norphel took up was a daunting one, after all playing with nature is not easy by any means. The idea of creating artificial glaciers could not have worked without devising proper techniques… the Ice Man relentlessly carried on.

Before his retirement, Norphel had experimented with diverting and blocking water so that it froze to form masses of ice. “That time I started a small artificial glacier on trial basis. It gave me good results,” says Norphel.

After his retirement, Norphel joined an NGO – Leh Nutrition Project – with an aim to create larger ice masses so that water could be stored for use in the sowing season. Norphel first began by standardising his technique. The process involved diverting surface runoff that came from melting snow, through a canal to shadow zones where sunlight would not melt the snow in February. From this canal, Norphel drew water in smaller quantities at different points and allowed it to flow down the slope where it was again blocked by rock embankments, which slowed down its movement. Below zero temperatures in these shadow zones allowed the slow-moving water to freeze and remain there throughout the winter till sowing season in March.

“It freezes near the walls, but some of it leaks from beneath the freezing surface, but it is blocked at the next wall,” says Norphel. “This goes on till all the water is made to freeze on the slope. The water, otherwise, would flow down its natural course and would never reach the fields at the appropriate time.”

Norphel builds his artificial glaciers close to the villages so that the early spring discharge from these glaciers can reach villages in time. He starts this process as soon as winter sets in. By February, his glaciers are big enough to feed villages when they melt in early spring with the rise in temperatures.

Norphel says that he had to start his work with only a few hands to help him. People joined in only after benefits became evident. “When people came to realise the benefits of the artificial glacier, they started helping me and we stretched the length of the artificial glacier,” he says. The longest glacier that Norphel created at Phucke village stretches over two kilometres. Of the 10 glaciers he has created, five of them are the major ones that feed agricultural fields, and benefit 1,300 families by providing an additional water supply of 30 days every year.

“Ploughing and sowing is in full swing in Ladakh in April-May but the water in natural streams is not sufficient. These glaciers help in making the crop successful by melting at the right time in the harvesting season,” says Norphel. Studies have shown that these glaciers also recharge the underground aquifers that keep the springs alive.

All was going well for the Ice Man till a natural catastrophe struck in 2006. Till then, many indicators had shown the change in Ladakh’s natural climate. In 2002, average minimum temperature recorded in January was -15.1 degree centigrade. It rose to -12.2 degree centigrade in January 2003 and further to -10.4 degree centigrade in 2004. In 2006, the Zanskar River, that remained frozen at the surface till March every year, melted ahead of time. The ensuing flash floods severely damaged the skeletal frame of the artificial ice masses, and for Norphel this was the worst blow by global warming that he has had to contend with. “Blocking walls were ripped apart and canals also suffered damages in their embankments by floods,” recalls Norphel.

But Norphel wasn’t bogged down for long by the calamity. He has plans to start again and improve upon his technique as well. “We used to draw water from the side of the canal to let it flow down the slope. Now, we will draw water from the bottom of the canal, so that every drop is used,” says Norphel.

With his experiments working wonders for the farmers, Norphel plans to extend his initiatives to all other villages with water scarcity. More than 80 per cent of the people in rural Leh face water scarcity as winters have shortened, snowfall has reduced, and glaciers have shrunk. The Ice Man aspires to build a glacier for every village with water scarcity, but his path is riddled with challenges. First and foremost is the availability of funds for such ambitious projects. Norphel says that people don’t volunteer for these jobs anymore. “Subsidised food grains have changed the habits of people. Unless you pay them now, they do not participate in the work. They do not see the benefits they get from the work I am doing,” complains Norphel.

So Norphel tries his luck everywhere – Government of India’s Watershed Development Project, Indian Army’s Operation Sadbhavana, Desert Development Project, private donors and what not. “Recently, we approached the Department of Science and Technology of Government of India for funding a glacier we are planning to make,” he says.

The Ice Man has three new projects at the villages Stakmo, Saboo and Nang in the pipeline. In total, they will incur an expenditure of Rs 22 lakh. Their lengths will measure between one to two kilometres. But Norphel’s projects are very cost effective. He says that a water reservoir with same capacity will cost five times more.

People around the world have been talking non-stop about the ticking time bomb called global warming. But the 74-year-old Norphel is among the few actually doing something constructive to defuse this threat. Not ready to retire anytime soon, Norphel is developing solutions that could help people around the world. Hopefully, he will succeed in getting the support he rightfully deserves.