Melting glaciers for water?
2001-04-20 11:30
Islamabad - Drought-hit Pakistan is desperate
enough for water that officials are examining the possibility
of melting glaciers.
With rains well below normal and reservoirs filling at less
than half the rate they should, the military government of
General Pervez Musharraf has asked the national weather office
to look at the possibility of melting glaciers in northern
mountains.
"We have not yet completed our study, but up to now we have
gathered that, yes, practically maybe, it can be done by
spraying some black carbon on the snow, the glaciers,"
Qamar-Uz-Zaman Chaudhry, director general of the meteorological
office, said on Wednesday.
"They will absorb more radiation and the snow melt can be
increased 10 or 15 percent."
However, Chaudhry made clear he saw potential pitfalls in
speeding up the melting rate of glaciers, which have been a
major source of water for the arid country each spring and
summer for thousands of years.
"There are many other factors that require even more
detailed and deeper study before undertaking any such activity
because there are a lot of environmental hazards in this," he
said in an interview with Reuters Television.
He said speeding up the melting of glaciers in the
mountains of the Himalayan, Hindu Kush and Karakoram ranges
could possibly destabilise glaciers, block rivers and lead to
flooding.
"So right now it is premature to say anything final on this
subject," he said.