Ice Stupas and Water Security November 2017 Volume 31 Number 2

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new horizons
the big picture

Ice stupas and water security

adakh is a high-elevation landscape in northern India, in the
These ice mounds are the brainchild of local engineer and award-

rain shadow of the Himalayas. Much of the region lies above winning sustainability champion Wangchuck Sonam. The costs are 3,000 m but receives less than 100 mm of rainfall a year. This minimal and the technology is simple. Their shape resembles the is a highland desert where communities have traditionally relied Buddhist temple or stupa — a distinctive feature of this region. The on meltwater from glaciers to irrigate crops and water livestock. form of these ice stupas helps to maximise the area of ice in shade and Meltwater supplies are becoming increasingly erratic, however, as prolong their life. Some last well into July and the largest may contribute

the region’s glaciers shrink.
5,000 litres of water per day to irrigation projects. They represent an

One strategy to increase water security in the Ladakh region involves elegant and ingenious strategy to help tackle a growing water-resource creating large artificial ice masses to store water for the summer growing problem faced by many rural communities in high mountains. season. Plastic pipes bring meltwater down to the villages where gravity pressure is harnessed to spray water high into the air during the bitter

Jamie Woodward is professor of physical geography at The

winter nights. It freezes into a conical shape as it falls — an ‘ice stupa’.

University of Manchester and an editor of G^EOGRAPHYREVIEW.

The largest ice stupas are 30–50 metres high.

Get more from this issue of GEOGRAPHY REVIEW, with free online resources.

See page 1 and www.hoddereducation.co.uk/geographyreviewextras

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