Plans to tow a huge iceberg from Antarctica to melt for drinking water

It sounds like a surreal idea out of science fiction – using a supertanker to tow a huge iceberg away from Antarctica to melt for drinking water.

But weirdly, there are not one, but two plans to do exactly this within the next couple of years.

A group of businessmen in the United Arab Emirates hope to tow ‘bergs from the Antarctic to the coast of the UAE.

Meanwhile, in drought-struck Cape Town, salvage expert Nick Sloane hopes to wrap an iceberg in a textile insulation and drag it 1,200 miles to Cape Town using a tanker and two tugboats.

MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO

• Alien ‘cigar’ asteroid showed strange ‘speed boost’ as it raced through solar system

• DNA tests which prove people’s ancestry ‘are complete bunkum’ says expert

• Theresa May angers her Brexit MPs amid claims she will try to keep the UK within the single market

• Wildlife artist captures rare footage of tawny owl bathing in bright sunshine during heatwave

• Here’s the scientific reason you never stop worrying about stuff

Sloane says, ‘The idea sounds crazy. But if you look at the fine details, it is not so crazy.’

Sloane claims that it could produce 150 million litres of water every day for a year.

The UAE Iceberg project says that it will cost between $50 and $60 million to tow an iceberg to the Gulf region.

Abdullah Mohammed Sulaiman Al Shehi, National Advisor Bureau managing director said, ‘We have been working hard on the project for the past year and are moving to the next stages.

‘The patents have been filed for the technology in the UK, some for towing and another for reducing the melting rate during the journey.’