Himalayan Communities Are Relying on Centuries-Old Water Solutions In the Face of Climate Change

The word Laya describes the natural rhythm that has carried the people of the Himalayas through monsoons and drought for centuries. Across the peaks and glaciers, the populated mid-hills and the foothills, communities have harmonized their calendars to the pulsing of water.Where annual rain falls in just four months, these master engineers funnel rooftop rainwater through handmade bamboo piping into gravel pits to recharge underground wells, maintaining them at the annual festivals. They adapt to the climate by unearthing ancient subterranean medieval stone spout networks for drinking, washing, and bathing.But there’s another Sanskrit word used in Hindi called Pralaya, passed down through oral tradition like Himalayan myth. It means the melting away of places that no longer exist. “Recent flooding in Nepal was a pralaya,” says hydrometeorologist and environmental scientist Ngamindra Dahal, chairperson of the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF) and executive board member of the South Asian Meteorological Association. “We’ve never witnessed anything like it.”Himalayans have fallen out of sync with nature at no fault of their own. As earth’s largest swath of ice outside the pol...