Kyrgyzstan's 2021 water crisis inspired a plan using helicopters to spray coal dust on mountain snow to release water for drought-stricken farms

When water became scarce in Kyrgyzstan in 2021, one proposed solution was as unusual as it was controversial: fly helicopters into the mountains and scatter coal dust over snow to make it melt faster. The idea came from Ermamat Tagaev, a member of Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, who argued that accelerating snowmelt could increase flows into rivers and reservoirs and help ease the country’s water shortage.

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