Remember “Phunsukh Wangdu” from 3 Idiots? The character which was inspired by Sonam Wangchuk who left us awestruck by his experiments in the blockbuster 3 idiots. Sonam Wangchuk has now secured the prestigious Rolex Award for Enterprise 2016 and gained recognition worldwide. Due to the scarcity of water for agriculture in desert landscapes of western Himalayas, Sonam Wangchuk, decided to do something about the shortage of water in the deserted land.
Sonam built “Ice Stupas” to preserve water for the long run by taking excess water from an upstream river, adjacent to the school and directed it with the help of pipes and sprinklers. This was done by freezing water in the winter months with the temperature being -20 degree celsius. Sonam did this with a team of students at Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) and found that due to a smaller surface area, the resulting conical shape of the artificial glacier melted 5 times slower when compared with the naturally formed ground ice. The resulting ice stupa reached a height of 6 metres, storing approximately 150,000 litres without the need for electricity or dams or water harvesting.
The Ladakh region faces water shortage every year during the month of April-May and this urged Sonam to work on the scarcity of water. He was determined that the water scarcity in the desert landscapes of Ladakh could be improved by freezing seasonal outflow of glacial water. Ice stupa a conical ice mound which acts like a mini glacier helped in harvesting by slowly releasing water for the growing seasons.
Sonam is among the five winners of the awards this year, the award was presented to those “who have reshaped the world with their innovative thinking and dynamism.” The five winners were chosen by a jury of 12 experts. Kerstin Forsberg is working towards the protection of giant manta rays, Andrew Bastawrous is working towards eye care in Sub- saharan Africa, Vreni Haussermann is exploring Chilean Patagonian fjords and Conor Walsh is tackling the mobility of problems of stroke sufferers.
Sonam Wangchuk said in the Rolex Award, “The Rolex Award funds will support the project and promote ice stupas as a climate-change adaptation and desert-greening technique.”
Sonam further added saying, “We are forming ice stupas, conical ice moulders that behave like mini-glaciers, slowly releasing water for the growing season. Conical ice moulds have minimal surface area and would melt much more slowly than flatter fields of ice.”
Sonam Wangchuk is now aiming to build 20 such ice stupas with each stupa being 30 meters high, slowly saturating desert landscapes of Ladakh.
