
Global warming is eating away at the glaciers on The Himalayas - gilad
https://www.outsideonline.com/2398498/himalayas-climate-research-glaciers-melting
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b_tterc_p
A few questions from reading this:

It says that this provides water for 2 billion people. How screwed are they
when it runs dry?

It says human waste in the highest peaks is a contamination problem... I’m not
clear on why this is. Doesn’t feces break down cleanly in running water?

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mdorazio
If you follow the linked articles, the estimate of water shortage being an
actual problem is on the timescale of roughly 80 years. That's more than
enough time to figure out solutions or coordinate emigration to less arid
places. So I guess we could say the current generations of people are not
super screwed, but their kids will be pretty screwed if no one has taken
action in ~50 years.

From what I understand, the solid part of feces breaks down pretty quickly,
but the bacteria and viruses that actually make people sick can remain a
dangerous contaminant in water for some time. It ends up being a question of
concentration - lots of water with only a few people = not much of a problem,
but lots of people with not much water = big problem.

