'Every drop of water counts': Fear for the future of Argentina's glaciers

'Every drop of water counts': Fear for the future of Argentina's glaciers4 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleRachel FlynnBusiness reporter, Mendoza, ArgentinaGetty ImagesOne of the most famous glaciers in Argentina - the Perito Moreno Glacier"Without water, there would be no wine," Virginia de Valle says as she takes me around her family's 16-hectare (40-acre) vineyard in Mendoza, nestled below the peaks of the Andes mountain range.Winemakers in Argentina's wine capital rely on fresh water from the Andes mountains to irrigate their crops. But after Argentine MPs this week passed government reforms to loosen the protection of glaciers, De Valle fears her vineyard's water supply is under threat."The Andes mountains, with their winter snow and glaciers, feed the rivers and streams that flow into the valley to irrigate our crops," she explains. "This is also the water we consume in our homes. That is why people say 'Mendoza is the daughter of water'."While snow in the Andes mountains is the primary source of water for Mendocinos, in years with especially low rain and snowfall, water from melted glaciers (permanent bodies of dense ice) helps to minimise the impact of droughts - increasingly common in Mendoza - and keep vineyards like De Valle's fruitful. Bodega GiecoVirginia's family vineyard and winery, Bodega Gieco, produces 100,000 litres of wine a year"Every drop of water counts," she says.It's not just the semi-arid province of Mendoza that relies on glaciers for water security. There are 16,968 glaciers in Argentina, providing water to 36 river basins across 12 provinces, home to seven million people.How has the glacier law changed?Argentina was the first country in the world to have a law that specifically protected its glaciers. Passed in 2010, the law deemed them to be vital water reserves, and so prohibited any damaging commercial activity.It also protected...