At a Glance

An expert thinks the water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, could be alleviated by towing an iceberg from Antarctica.If successful, the kilometer-long ice block would be covered in fabric and towed by a tanker.The expert believes this idea could provide 40 million gallons of fresh water to the city every day for a year.

It has been a terrifying several months for Cape Town, South Africa, as the city scrambles to stave off the very real possibility of running out of clean drinking water. For the South Africancity and its 3.7 million residents, one solution might be sitting a few thousand miles to the south.

Marine salvage expert Nick Sloane has proposed towing an iceberg from Antarctica to South Africa , according to Quartz. If successful, the carefully selected block of ice could providenearly 40 million gallons of fresh water to the city every day for a year, according to Sloane's calculations.

"," Sloane told CBS News. "But if you look at the fine details, it is not so crazy."

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The icebergwould have to be wrapped in a fabric to keep it cool during the long journey, which would minimize , CNN.com said. Even then, about 30 percent of the kilometer-long iceberg would probably melt while being towed by the tanker, the report added.

This isn't the first time this plan has been proposed as a new source of drinking water. In 2017, a similar idea was proposed. Now, the United Arab Emirates said by 2020.

It wouldn't solve the problem entirely – the iceberg wouldprovide about 30 percent of the city's drinking water for a year, Sloane said. For a city that has watched its water sources dry up at an ever-increasing speed, it could still be very helpful.

"Icebergs are made of the purest freshwater on Earth," Sloane told CBS News. "Thousands break off every year. Mother Nature has been teasing mankind with this for a long time, saying 'this is here.'"