00:07harsh realities but an extraordinary will to survive
00:20in Ursi high in Ladakh villagers have spent years trying to save winter water as ice for spring
00:30now technology is helping but can it keep this tiny village alive in a warming Himalaya
00:39at around 4,000 meters in a land of little rain every field here depends on water from the snow
00:47just 16 households remain most of them elderly
01:07Sonam Angchuk is 70 his family has lived in Ursi for generations and he is among the last here who
01:14still plows with yaks here timing is everything crops must go in by spring but the snow melts fully
01:38only by June for generations families have shared the little water there is collected overnight in
01:47the village pond and with less snow there is less to share
02:13yet even in the coldest months streams keep flowing here and the water runs off unused so
02:20the villagers looked for a way to save it Chevang Norfell a retired government engineer from
02:30Leh now nearly 90 is known as the Iceman of India
02:58as a young engineer he went from village to village listening to farmers
03:21his stone walled glaciers spread to 10 to 15 villages but in Ursi it didn't work
03:28a decade ago came ice tupas water sprayed through pipes to build tall cones of ice Ursi tried again at
03:54a heavy cost
03:56Sahaja rita
03:57while gentry when it was running water
04:03When we had more water when we had more water
04:06I was very excited to have a bit of water
04:08I would have tried a lot of water to get some water
04:10and then they didn't get more water
04:12and when we wanted water to get some water
04:14Scientist Dr. Surai Narayanan who came to Ladakh in 2015 to work on ice stupas
04:19saw the same struggle everywhere.
04:23Camping at very cold conditions,
04:25minus 30 degrees Celsius,
04:26and working in those conditions
04:28was almost unbearable
04:29for especially people who were above 60.
04:33About 50 villages in Ladakh
04:35tried building ice reservoirs.
04:37Almost none kept going beyond a second winter.
04:41Ursi kept trying.
04:44This village tried making ice structures
04:47seven times before we even entered the village.
04:49Because of the desperation they had.
04:51Because of the only spring source they had.
04:54In 2024, Surya's company, Acres of Ice,
04:58brought automation.
05:00Sensors read the weather and the water.
05:02When conditions are right, the fountains spray.
05:05When there is a risk of freezing,
05:07the pipes empty themselves.
05:10No one has to climb up at night.
05:12A small team of village elders,
05:15trained by Acres of Ice,
05:17now checks it once or twice a month.
05:21Over the last two winters,
05:23Ursi's reservoir has stored
05:25four to five million litres of water.
05:28The ice melts from April
05:29just as sowing begins.
05:43Acres of Ice's household survey in Ursi
05:46point the same way.
05:48The water they receive for irrigation
05:51has come earlier in the season
05:55than it used to.
05:57Their area of land they are able to
05:58irrigate has increased.
06:02Villagers say they can now farm
06:0375 to 80 percent of their land.
06:06their land.
06:08But Sonam has watched the seasons change.
06:31The climate change was reduced by the climate change.
06:46And the spring that feeds Ursi's ice reservoir is itself fed by a natural glacier higher
06:51up, one that is retreating.
06:55If the glacier retreats so much that it's not able to feed the spring, our water supply
07:01is gone.
07:01Even more than 50% of that water is going to be lost due to evaporation or ground seepage
07:07before it reaches the farm.
07:10Even so, Surya believes the reservoir can buy precious time.
07:15If we can give a tiny village new life for 20 more years, that is already enough.
07:21Let it be even one village.
07:23To make that time count, Acres of Ice is also bringing drip irrigation, solar pumps and village
07:29water committees to make every drop go further.
07:41From stone walls to ice stupas to automated reservoirs, Ladakh has spent nearly four decades learning
07:49to save its winter.
07:50Technology alone may not keep Ursi alive in a warming Himalaya.
07:55But for now, the water arrives when Sonam Angchuk's fields need it most.
08:00And with it, a little more time and a little more hope.
08:06Thank you Kopiko again!
08:10Bye!
