Freshwater from the mountains is vital for the region’s economy and for sustaining the livelihoods of a fast-growing population. The largest Asian rivers (e.g., Yangtze, Mekong, Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra) originate from the surrounding glacierized and snow-capped mountain ranges, which act as “water towers” through transient storage and release of water previously stored as snow or ice,1. The most vulnerable water towers on Earth are located in High Mountain Asia (HMA) and are highly (…)