Thanks to the innovative initiative of Deputy Governor V. K. Sakena last month, over 90 million liters of glacial water have begun irrigating more than 1000 acres of arid agricultural land across 12 villages in Ladakh daily.
This massive volume of water, melted from glaciers and previously flowing aimlessly into the Indus River, is now being directed from the Nallah village of Stok to Leh into the Igu-Phey irrigation channel using simple earthworks that required minimal capital investment.
The initial impetus for action was a request from the head of one of the villages. The Deputy Governor began considering ways to utilize glacial melt and snow for productive purposes after visiting the village of Chuchot in Leh, where the traditional village head, Mirza Hussain, appealed to him for help due to a severe water shortage.
According to officials, this plea prompted the Deputy Governor to lead a comprehensive and systematic campaign to identify locations where large volumes of glacial water were flowing unused directly into the Indus, while surrounding fields remained dry.
The Nallah village of Stok, fed by the Stok Kangri glacier, was identified as one such location from which glacial water could be diverted into the existing channel. Officials reported that the outflow from the Stok Nallah was estimated at 36 cusecs, which equates to approximately 90 million liters of water per 24 hours.
Two channels were created to divert nearly 80 million liters of water into the Igu-Phey channel: 62 million liters were directed towards the village of Igu upstream, and about 18 million liters towards the village of Phey downstream.
This daily flow significantly increased the total volume of water in the Igu-Phey channel—from 50 cusecs to almost 90 cusecs. Consequently, water supply will be guaranteed daily for the 12 villages served by the channel. Previously, water from the 43-kilometer Igu-Phey channel was distributed among villages on a limited schedule due to resource scarcity.
After successfully diverting 80 million liters of water into the Igu-Phey channel, the remaining 10 million liters were redirected to another dry channel in Chuchot, which will help irrigate lands in this and neighboring villages, officials clarified.
One official stated: 'All 90 million liters of water were utilized, and the outflow from the Stok Kangri glacier into the Indus River was reduced to zero in just two days without any cost,' adding that the success of this initiative serves as a model for water resource management across the Union Territory.