To tow an iceberg from the Arctic ... turn left at Greenland

TIM Newall-Watson is no stranger to extreme challenges, but would be the first to acknowledge that the chances of success for his next project are remarkably slim. Using a cross between a helium balloon and a power kite, the Scottish adventurer plans to tow an iceberg - from the Arctic to the Straits of Gibraltar.

With project partner Geoff Shacklock-Evans, a former British squad kayaker, he will perch on an unstable lump of frozen water the size of a "small office block", at the mercy of the Arctic climate and wearing a survival suit fitted with crampons and ice axes.

The daily routine, as the men try to shift the iceberg upwards of 2000 miles, will involve taking scientific measurements, checking kite anchor-points, and navigating an unpredictable vessel.

Despite the risk, Mr Newall- Watson, from Edinburgh, is upbeat: "I don’t plan to die in the process and the safety mechanisms are the most important thing. I have two children. If at some point it is looking like a suicide bid, I will not continue."

The voyage will be shadowed by a support vessel, where the two can retreat for sleep and rest. If things do go badly wrong, it can pluck them from the sea.

The project is at the fund- raising stage, but the men are serious about getting it off the ground, mainly to provide a solution to the next big challenge facing humanity - the water crisis.

Mr Newall-Watson, 45, a "committed environmentalist", says vast swathes of the developing world have problems obtaining enough fresh water. The UN World Water Development Report, published a year ago, revealed 1.1 billion people lack access to clean and reliable water and 2.4 billion more are denied proper sanitation. The situation is expected to get worse over the coming decades and, unless corrective action is taken, billions of people could run out of water by 2025.

If successful, Mr Newall- Watson will have shown the world that the potential disastrous shortages of water currently being forecast can be avoided by moving icebergs.

Last spring, a similar scheme from a group including the Scottish Association for Marine Science, a Cambridge University professor of ocean physics and two French laboratories, was put forward to the EU’s water-scarcity research programme. The project to "harvest" an iceberg to deliver to parched areas of Europe and north Africa was rejected, but the will and vision is still there.

Any iceberg would be selected, with the help of an ice scientist, for its hydro-dynamicism, ability to remain stable, and structural integrity. It would be fitted with an "ice-skirt", like wrapping an ice cube in a plastic bag, to prevent it melting and being undercut by waves. A steel hawser will be secured around the iceberg, as an anchor-point for the kite. In the event of an emergency, four tug boats should provide a speedy pull out of the path of an oncoming tanker.

Mr Newall-Watson hopes the modified kites will be able to get the iceberg to a speed of 4.7 knots - the journey would, he estimates, take over 100 days at a steady speed of 3.5-4.5 knots. But if the wind doesn’t blow, they will be going nowhere fast.

Ultimately, it all depends on money. Mr Newall-Watson won’t disclose how much he has raised so far but a minimum of 150,000 is needed to fund the provisional expedition, to test if the undertaking is possible.

"All we want to prove is that a kite system can move an iceberg faster than it would otherwise go in a direction it might not proceed in naturally," he says. "I just want to prove the technology, as once I can do that, I know more people will want us to test it properly."