Local Monk from Everest region perform religious retuals during the completion ceromony of much-awaited Imja Lake Lowering Project. 23 November 2016. Credit: Nabin Baral
The lake in the Everest region was in danger of flooding villages, bridges and trekking trails downstream.
The Nepal government announced that it had finished draining the glacial lake Imja Tsho in the Everest region on November 23.
The Imja Lake was in danger of flooding villages, bridges and trekking trails downstream.
Imja Lake is one of the six highly dangerous glacial lakes in Nepal.
It took more than six months for about 150 people including 40 military personnel and local Sherpas to construct an outlet and release almost four million cubic metres of water. The water level of lake – originally 149 metres deep – fell by 3.4 metres.
Nepal has thousands of glacial lakes. Many of these are filling up fast because of warming temperatures and melting glaciers.
Glacial lakes have burst their banks 24 times in Nepal since the 1960s, three of which were in the Dhud Koshi river basin in the Everest region.
The Nepal government set up flood risk reduction project, supported by the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Development Programme. Early warning systems have been installed in six settlements on the Everest trekking trails to send flood warnings to people downstream.
Tourists have suggested the government shift trails on the Everest to higher places so trekkers and porters climbing the mountain are safe from potential glacial lake floods.
This article was originally published on The Third Pole. Read the original article.
