Race against time in the Himalayas of India for the construction of an artificial glacier that can help local people to make up for the shortage of water during the dry season. Within a couple of weeks should be completed in the desert of Ladakh before the ‘stupa’, so it was called the ‘pyramid of ice’ in honor of the eponymous Buddhist monument, which melts in the warm months should provide water for irrigation.
The project, to see the light last winter has resorted to crowdfunding site Indiegogo to collect 125 thousand dollars, is led by engineer Sonam Wangchuck. The one in progress is a sort of mini-glacier artificial, a block of ice, in the village of Phyang
The goal is to finish mid-March to provide in the following months to farmers water they need for their activities. In the coming years the aim is to build 80-90 stupa capable of storing one billion gallons of water to irrigate 600 hectares of desert. To do this, says Wangchuck, will require an additional 100 thousand dollars.
What the ‘stupa Ice’ is a way to store water without building dams or reservoirs, Wangchuck says the Guardian. Last winter the engineer had made a prototype 6 meters high, while the stupa in construction had to be 30 meters high. However, he admits the engineer, at the conclusion of the work will be high only half. “As a first time – he says – it is normal that there are some complications, but we wanted to show how to make a stupa ice and make a piece of green desert”.
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