Abdulla Alshehi, an Emirati entrepreneur and inventor, wants to tow a giant iceberg from Antarctica to the Arabian Gulf in order to provide fresh drinking water for the UAE, which relies heavily on desalinated water. For the past 6-years, he’s been devising a plan to tow a 2km x 500m iceberg 5,500-miles from Antarctica to the Arabian Gulf using modern technology. “It will be cheaper to bring in these icebergs and utilize them for freshwater rather than utilizing the desalination water. Because desalination plants require a huge amount of capital investments,” said Alshehi told Euronews. Read more for a video and additional information.
This isn’t the first time towing an iceberg has been brought up as the idea dates back to 1975, when French scientists proposed it as a solution for Saudi Arabia’s drinking water shortage. Unfortunately, the plan failed two years later, due to a lack of technology to achieve it. The goal for this businessman is to snag an iceberg from Heard Island, near the South Pole, and tow it using a metal belt designed to prevent it from coming loose during the long journey. It’s expected to lose about 30 percent of its mass during the 10 months it would take to transport the iceberg to the Arabian Gulf.