6.6 Snowshed in Alpine environment

FIGURE 6.6

Snowshed in Alpine environment

Source: MetaMeta (www.roadsforwater.com).

Artificial Glaciers The development of artificial glaciers is an ingenious technique first developed by local engineers in Ladakh (north India). The principle consists of diverting water from glacial streams through canals and pipes (up to 4 kilometers long) to shaded, colder, and flatter areas, where the difference in temperature and lower velocity of water will cause the water to refreeze. When the meltwater reaches the artificial glacier site, it is spread and contained by retaining walls of stones or concrete built in series (see figure 6.7). The artificial glaciers may be up to 2 kilometers in length and 2.5 meters in depth. The water is stored there during the entire winter and melts in spring when solar radiation and temperatures increase. artificial glaciers have several advantages for agriculture and road infrastructure:

• They make water available before higher glaciers start melting, enabling farmers to begin cultivating earlier in the season. • They reduce the amount of meltwater lost from the high-altitude area. • They reduce peak floods, erosion, and damage to infrastructure.

Land Development with Meltwater Intense sedimentation in young mountain areas may lead, for instance, to a reduction in downstream reservoir capacity. However, sedimentation is not necessarily a hazard: it can be an asset as well. It helps build or renew soils, creating new land and plugging gullies and depressions. “Warping” techniques can be used to trap sediment for beneficial use. Warping entails building up land with moisture-rich soil along rivers and streams. This process can be accomplished by letting turbid water flood onto agricultural land so that its suspended sediments form a layer before the water is allowed to flow away. roads can also be used to