Meltwater won't be good news forever for hydropower

RHONE GLACIER, Switzerland: Standing on the glacier at the source of the Rhone river, glaciologist Andreas Bauder poses next to a 3-meter high pole sticking out of the ice, and gestures above his head.

"This is about the melt of one month," he says, as fellow scientists drill into the ice. "I'm about two meters tall."

From the Himalayas to the Andes, faster-melting glaciers spell short-term opportunities - and long-term risks - for hydroelectric power and the engineering and construction industries it drives.