The UAE will begin towing icebergs next year -- here's why

The United Arab Emirates has a water shortage, and a drought could make matters worse for the next 25 years. In an effort to resupply its drinking water, the managing director of National Advisor Bureau Limited, Abdullah Mohammad Sulaiman Al Shehi, told Gulf News they plan to drag icebergs from Antarctica to their shores starting in 2018.

An average iceberg contains 20 billion gallons of water, which could provide drinking water for 1 million people over the course of five years. Mr. Al Shehi suggests the iceberg could also become a tourist attraction, as well as a mini-climate that could help create some rainfall:

"Cold air gushing out from an iceberg close to the shores of the Arabian Sea would cause a trough and rainstorms across the Arabian Gulf and the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula all year round. As the rising air expands, cools and condenses due to the decrease in air pressure. Water vapor is collected in the clouds, they become heavy and falls as rain."

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