Kyrgyzstan to build artificial glaciers in 1,000 villages to combat water shortages

Kyrgyzstan has approved a technical guideline to create artificial glaciers and a new irrigation system for approximately 1,000 villages.

This initiative targets mountain communities where shrinking natural glaciers have caused river flows to decrease, leaving villages without enough water for crops or livestock. Matraim Zhusupov, a water resources expert at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), stated that the lack of water is causing people to abandon farming and move away from these regions.

The new system combines artificial glaciers with a reservoir and a drip irrigation network. The technology works by creating large blocks of ice that melt and flow into a reservoir via downhill pipelines, eliminating the need for pumps to distribute water to local farmers. While some communities previously built small ice structures, they often failed because they lacked proper engineering standards.

Zhusupov developed a specific engineering guideline after testing a design in the Sumbula rural area of the Leilek district in the Batken region. The FAO plans to work with partners to find investments to scale this technology across the country. Other Central Asian nations, including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan, have already expressed interest in the system.