Strategies for Living in the Deep Snow Country (2)
Snow Melting System
Above is the snow melting system visible at the street level. During heavy snow, the pipeline system will be activated sprouting water from the circular sprinklers installed on the streets.
In an area where snow accumulation is 3 meters or more, there is always the problem of where to put the snow after shoveling. The Hida area utilizes several methods, one being using water to melt the snow.
The Hida area has historically had very heavy snow to a point where some homes started to install doorways on the second floor so they can enter and exit the house.
Back in 1980, a small corner of the town of Furukawa in the Hida region decided to pool together resources to build a pipeline under the streets to pull up ground water to melt the snow on the ground. This area of Hida had plenty of groundwater to spare due to the heavy annual snow falls. In addition, the town had long ago built waterways along the streets and pulled river water into these waterways to bring irrigation to the rice patties. The ground water is relatively warm (approximately 14 degrees Celsius throughout the year) and it can melt the snow on the surface of the streets even in the coldest days. The melted snow would then flow into the waterways and eventually into the river. This system greatly decreased the need to shovel snow, as demonstrated in the extremely heavy snowfall in 1981 where the whole town of Furukawa was buried in snow, except for the area with the pipeline.
Since then, the town slowly built this snow melting system throughout town. Thanks to this system, the town of Furukawa is relatively safe to walk and drive in during the winter time as there is very little snow and ice on the streets.
Although this system may seem convenient, it does come with a few concerns. The ground water is created by the absorption of water by the rice patties in the area. However, due to the rapid aging and depopulation of the area, rice patties are being abandoned and dried therefore decreasing the amount of ground water being created. This leads to a concern of whether the town is depleting the ground water faster than it can be replenished.
Whether this ingenious system can be maintained is dependent on whether the Hida area can maintain its population of youth which is willing to work the land. The Satoyama lifestyle which our ancestors have maintained in this area has provided us with many resources which we depend on today. Whether residents can maintain this system will certainly be an interesting development to follow.
