Artificial glaciers boost water supply in northern Pakistan
[ad_1] More than 20 villages make the ice stupas every winter, which provides 16,000 residents access to water without having to build reservoirs or tanks (AFP photo) HUSSAINABAD: At the foot of Pakistan's impossibly high mountains whitened by frost all year round, farmers grappling with a lack of water have created their own ice towers.Warmer winters as a result of climate change has reduced the snow fall and subsequent seasonal snowmelt that feeds the valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan, a remote region home to K2, the world's second-highest peak.Farmers in the Skardu valley, at an altitude of up to 2,600 metres (8,200 feet) in the shadow of the Karakoram mountain range, searched online for help in how to irrigate their apple and apricot orchards."We discovered artificial glaciers on YouTube," Ghulam Haider Hashmi told AFP. They watched the videos of Sonam Wangchuk, an […]