The World's Highest Village is Running Out of Water

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The World's Highest Village is Running Out of Water

The highest village in the world, Komik at 4,587 meters high in  the Spiti Valley of India, is running out of water. 

A 2014 study by Jawaharlal Nehru University said that annual temperatures in the Indian Himalayas rose by up to 2 degrees Celsius over 20 years. The study also said the glaciers have reduced by 13 percent over the past 50 years.

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Image: Spiti Valley, a cold trans-Himalayan desert, located in northern India's Himachal Pradesh close to the border with  TIbet , July 4, 2017.
(NITA BHALLA/THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION)

Arun Sharma, a senior government official in Spiti, said, "There is no doubt there is a big water crisis here. We've put in place a lot of projects such as providing water tanks and constructing water catchment areas, but we are limited by the weather. For six months of the year, life stops as we are snowbound and we cannot do any major work."

Experts say that changes in weather affect not only the food, water and energy security of the people living in Himalayan villages. It also affects over one billion other people living across Asia who depend on rivers such as the Yangtze, Ganges and Mekong.

The melting snow and ice from the Himalayas feed these rivers and the streams and springs around Spiti Valley.

Unlike other parts of India, where there are two farming seasons to plant and harvest crops, Spiti only has one farming season. This creates problems for farmers if their plants die during the one season.

Ishita Khanna leads Ecosphere, an ecotourism company in Spiti Valley. She said there was not enough snowfall in the last two years and the springs all dried out in the valley.

"With the climate changing, this could be disastrous for people living here if this keeps happening. There should be more support for people and a deeper understanding of their way of life here. It's a very hard life." 

Read full article: VOA News

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