Clean water It is becoming scarce in many countries, but not in Greenland. Its ice contains about 6.5 percent of the world’s fresh water, and more than 350 billion liters are estimated to enter the ocean every year. And as climate change accelerates the melting of the Arctic, more Greenland water will flow from the island each year.
In other areas facing water shortages, those same water molecules may be taken from the ocean and returned to fresh water using desalination, at great cost in terms of electricity and money. This prompted the start of an unusual and ambitious business venture that was partially approved by the government of Greenland—harvesting glacier meltwater and exporting it.
“We have the best resources in the world in this area and beyond, and we want to convey that message to investors and potential markets,” said Naaja H. Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister of business and trade.
The startup behind the idea, the Arctic Water Bank, plans to build a dam in South Greenland, capture the meltwater, and transport it around the world by boat in bulk water carriers. If all goes according to plan, the company says the project will be completely neutral and will cause minimal damage to the local environment.
“This is some of the cleanest water in the world. “Anyone who has tried Greenland water knows that it is pure, white gold,” said Samir Ben Tabib, founder and head of international relations at the startup.
The Arctic Water Bank is first and foremost, Ben Tabib emphasizes, a business, but he believes it can provide a service to Greenlanders and the rest of the world. He argues that his company will help the people of Greenland by using the country’s natural resources and paying taxes on their earnings, and it is a desire that the government shares. “The goal is twofold,” said Nathanielsen. “It’s about new sources of revenue for the national treasury, and the development of local businesses and job creation that goes with it.”
In the long run, Ben Tabib says, the Arctic Water Bank may even help alleviate the coming water crisis. “Maybe it’s not something that our small business can solve alone, but in Greenland, fresh water is a source that flows into the sea.”
Currently, the startup has the initial permissions it needs. In documents seen by WIRED, the government gives the company exclusive rights for the next 20 years to use all water and ice from the river near the town of Narsaq. On average, this river produces 21.3 billion liters of water each year, almost entirely meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet. But before any water can be sent, a dam must be built, and the Arctic Water Bank will need an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be completed in order to begin construction.
This is not as big an obstacle as it may seem. Greenland may be one of the most untouched places in the world—it’s about the size of Western Europe and home to fewer than 60,000 people—but damming is not unknown, said Karl Zinglersen, head of the United States Department of Natural Resources and Mineral Resources. the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. In the early 1990s, the first hydroelectric dam was built to serve the capital of Nuuk, and since then, a number of hydroelectric dams have been built across the country. The EIA process is very thorough, Zingerlsen said, but in his experience it rarely if ever stops a project.