The cold desert ladakh receives scanty rainfall. There have been no reservoir-linked irrigation systems. The traditional yura system of irrigation caters to areas near the tokpo. Vast tracts of land remain unused just because there is no irrigation.
“Food requirement and changing climatic condition prompted planning for modern irrigation canals that would be fed directly by lifting waters from Indus, Shyok and other possible tributaries,” said an official from the Flood and Irrigation Department. The best example is the 43 kms long distribution canal - the Igoo-Phey Canal. The main canal is complete but its branch shoots not.
As per leh’s Economic Review 2014-15 (http://leh.gov.in/depts/Economic%20Review%202014-15.pdf), the net area irrigated under various crops in the district was 9,982 Ha during 2014-15. Efforts are on to bring more land under irrigation with modern canal systems.
Irrigation & Flood Control Department’s TseringDorje (Executive Engineer) and PhurbuSandup, AEE says working on the principle of capturing the snow in winter for use in summer, the department has helped build a huge reservoir - Ganglass reservoir on the road towards Nubra - fed with diversion from leh nuallah. “This reservoir will mainly be useful for groundwater recharge and, if needed, water can be directly used when it melts,” Dorje said.
At least 3-4 more smaller reservoirs downstream of Ganglass on the leh tokpo are in the pipeline awaiting funds for repairs. These were damaged during the 2010 cloudburst induced floods. The department also builds flood protection bunds along the nullahs for preventing soil erosion. Five such nullahs - Basgo, Nemo, Phyang, Saboo and Igoo - are getting flood protection bunds.
Ice Stupa
Building artificial glaciers did work at many places but it has its limitation. Two new experiments are being tried at Phyang, about 17 kms from leh. One is of improvising on ChewangNorphel’s design with cheaper and easy-to-handle-by-anybody options. And another is a cost-intensive but much more effective Ice Stupa (http://icestupa.org/), a vertical artificial glacier.
Sonam Wangchuk is an engineer turned educator. Using a simple principle of ‘flat surface leads to more evaporation, so have crooked surface’, he conceptualized the Ice Stupa.
“Over last few years, most of the villages are facing water shortage right at the time of sowing months - April and May. The glaciers are yet to melt so there is less water in the streams / tokpos. Immediately next month, in June, the farmers at times face excess water in the streams because June has been witnessing rising temperatures leading to faster snow melt,” Wangchuksaid at Phyang.
On the other hand, even when the farming season is over, the tokpo still has a small yet steady stream and in most cases through winters. “I find this water going into the Indus as sheer waste as nobody now or downstream uses it in winters,” he added.
After two years of trial at his SECMOl school, Wangchuk and his team have built the first working 60-feet tall Ice Stupa on the outskirts of Phyang village. The team worked since November through January to erect the Ice Stupa. Water is brought from more than 2.5 kms upstream but with the use of gravity. Water rushesout in full force through a fountain like arrangement, drops exposed to cold immediately turn into snowflakes. This is made to fall on a contraption made with dried sea buck thorn stems arranged in crooked manner.
But this was easier said than done. It was the Phyang village’s water and land that was to be used. Wangchuk took the help of the head lama of the Phyang Monastery. Moreover, Wangchuk promises to irrigate waste tract of land adjoining the Phyang village apart from raising 5,000 trees planted two years ago near the stupa. Melt water from the stupa is collected in a tank and used as and when required for irrigation.
“He convinced us how this is going to be useful for the village. We, in turn, took a promise that the project will not draw water from the local stream when the villagers need it. There were meetings held in each of the eight mohallas and it took almost two months to convince people to agree to this,” said RigzinYangdol, a former panch.
Phyang is eagerly waiting for summer to enjoy Ice Stupa’s result as depending on its success, more such Ice Stupas would be made across ladakh.
(Nivedita Khandekar is an independent journalist based in Delhi. She writes on environmental, developmental and social issues. She can be reached at nivedita_him@rediffmail.com or follow her at @nivedita_Him)