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Water shortages and artificial glacier melting
Aamir Kabir
The idea of melting glacier in the northern peaks artificially in a bid to help improve the water situation in the country has recently been discussed among food and agriculture ministry which is in a fix over severe damage, wreaked by years of drought, to major crops. For this purpose the government plans to spray carbon over glaciers in the Hindukush-Himalaya ranges and direct powerful laser beams on the rivers of ice in order to solve water crises of the country that has ballooned into a political problem across the country. The novel idea, in turn, is supposed to help the drought-affected regions of Pakistan by raising the volume of water in its rivers in adverse seasons.
The director-general of Pakistan's meteorological office, Qamar-uz-Zaman Chudhry, last month said his department was looking at the possibility of melting glaciers in the north to offset water scarcities compounded by a severe drought.
The idea of glacier melting by spraying ash or carbon particles, which after mixing with ice starts absorbing more sun light and become warm and lead to melting of ice around them, has been under consideration for almost 25 years but is still at laboratory stage. As a matter of fact we are not technologically so advanced to go for this experiment which has not been ever tried at such level in the world.
The government's plan to melt glaciers in an effort to deliver water to farmers in drought-stricken areas has started a debate among various scientists, government department's officials and environmental groups. The proponents claim the idea as a promising way to overcome the worst ever water shortages of the country whereas the opponents are of the view that the artificial glacier melting to meet the growing water shortage in that country could well amount to killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Despite doubts and oppositions, the ambitious government officials have not given up the plan.
Pakistan depends on water from melted glacier and snow ranges - flowing into the Indus River system - to irrigate 80 per cent of the 22 million hectares of farmland through a network of canals. These frozen water reserves discharge an average of 140 million acre-feet of water every year. The rest comes from monsoon rains. There hasn't been any fresh snow during last winter, which melts into the river system. The summer of current year will see a tremendous decrease in water inflows in the irrigation network.
Pakistan has already suffered more than $1.5 billion losses through lower crop yields and subsequent food imports due to drought like situation during past some years. The financial loss is expected to climb further as water shortages delay sowing of cotton, which in raw and value-added form accounts for more than 40 per cent of the country's $10 billion exports. In such circumstances, irrespective of it's possibility, artificial snow melting has raised the hopes of thirsty farmers who have been staging protests in many parts of Pakistan especially in Sindh for water shortages.
No doubt that melting of glaciers artificially can result in availability of water but we may not be able to contain the melting to the identified glaciers and this human intervention for short-term gains could create irreversible long-term ecological problems and may change temperature patterns in the ecologically sensitive area - causing flooding of unimaginable proportions.
Apart from permanently damaging the fragile ecology of the Himalayas, the move will eventually cause the water table in the northern parts of the country to fall at an alarming rate, as these glaciers feed 80 per cent of the water flow in the Himalayan rivers. Therefore, this plan, if implemented, may help meet water shortage in the country for a few seasons, the ecological disaster that shall follow will be impossible to prevent or contain.
Melting glaciers would be a "massive interference with nature" and might still not be as good a solution to scarcities as conservation and efficient use of water resources. Artificial melting of glaciers might give water, but could cause harmful effects on the environment.
There is a dire need to take into account environmental implications of this activity through an environmental impact assessment of the whole activity prior to go ahead with the plan. The proposed plan will eventually lead to desertification of the region, disturbing the ecosystem and causing many plant and animal species to disappear.
The country has received below normal rains for the past three years. The last year was the worst - we did not get any rains during the monsoons and hardly any fresh snow in the winter. Melting of glaciers is not something we should try. The Indus Valley civilization depends on these glaciers for its survival. If we melt them, the whole country will become dry land with its rivers running only during the rainy season.
Ice in these glaciers comes from ice ages and once it melts, there will not be any ice in these glaciers because conversion of ice from snowflakes takes a number of years. Spraying of coal dust and the consequent melting of ice will further increase the region's temperature and prevent ice formation in the glacial areas. Glacier systems throughout the world, including those in the polar regions, are already melting due to global warming. Pakistan, being in the subtropical region, is already more vulnerable to this global change in temperature. If short sighted and selfish plans as the government is contemplating are carried out, it would only hasten the end of an ecological and natural marvel called the Himalayas.
Keeping in view the worst environmental consequences of the proposed plan of artificial snow melting, the government should rather focus on improving the water distribution system, conservation schemes and efficient on-farm water use. Wisdom, therefore, lies in aborting this shortsighted plan. The government must instead try tested methods like water harvesting to meet its shortage. Our water problems are likely to become worse in five years and it would be better for us to conserve water resources and stop waste.
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