Ladakh taps 90m litres glacier water daily to irrigate 1,000 acres

Led by the Lieutenant Governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena,   the Union Territory of Ladakh has successfully started utilising a massive 90 million litres of glacier water per day for sustainable water and agricultural security in Ladakh.

Previously lost as untapped runoff into the River Indus, this colossal volume of glacial-melt water from Stok village Nallah in Leh is now being directly channelised into the Igoo-Phey Irrigation Canal, catering to nearly 12 villages and augmenting irrigation of over 1000 acres of barren land that earlier remained parched due to paucity of water in the canal.
This landmark initiative uses simple earthwork to channelise and utilise the glacial runoff, without incurring any capital expenditure. This comes as a historic step toward transforming the region’s agricultural productivity and realising the vision of a Green, Water-Secure, and Self-Sustaining Ladakh.

While Ladakh is endowed with abundant glacier and snowmelt resources, vast stretches of its cultivable land have historically faced acute irrigation shortages. 
The imbalance between the large volumes of untapped, draining water and the parched agricultural lands has, for ages, constrained rural livelihoods.

Recognising this critical gap, during his visits to various villages, L-G VK Saxena ideated and spearheaded a comprehensive, systematic campaign by identifying such places where large quantities of glacier water are flowing down the Indus River.

To ensure that every drop of glacier and snowmelt is harnessed for productive use rather than going to waste, the Lieutenant Governor first identified Stok village Nallah as one such place for diverting the glacier water into the existing canal. The Stok Nallah is fed by the Stok Kangri Glacier 

near Leh.
On the directions of L-G Saxena on the 14th of August, the Irrigation and Flood Control Department successfully diverted excess glacier water from the main water channel of Nallah to the Igoo-Phey Canal by creating two trenches using a JCB.

“By successfully saving 90 million litres of glacier water daily and diverting this huge volume of water from the Stok Nallah into the Igoo Phey and Yokyur canals, we have proven that large-scale, sustainable water management is entirely feasible in our cold desert. This is a monumental step toward our vision of a Green, Water-Secure, and Self-Sustaining Ladakh. Our administration’s unwavering commitment is to harness every single drop for irrigation. This successful model is just a blueprint. We will expand these cost-effective interventions across Ladakh, transforming scattered glacier flows into a permanent lifeline for agricultural prosperity, revitalised rural economies, and long-term climate resilience for the people of Ladakh,” said LG, Saxena.