Presented by IWMI's Luna Bharati (Principal Researcher/Team Leader DJB) at the Digo Jal Bikas project wrap-up workshop held in Kathmandu, Nepal on March 13, 2019. More info: http://djb.iwmi.org/

1. SUSTAINABLE, JUST AND PRODUCTIVE WATER RESOURCES
DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN NEPAL UNDER CURRENT AND FUTURE
CONDITIONS
1
Dr. Luna Bharati
Principal Researcher/Team Leader DJB
IWMI
March 13, 2019 | Kathmandu

2. 2
Nepal: The Water Context
If water resource is properly harnessed, it would be the ticket out of poverty
through economic growth mainly in the hydropower and agriculture sectors.
 Water resources (WR) remain under-developed
– Less than 7% of available WR are managed for socio-economic purposes
(WECS, 2010)
– 2.5 % of economically feasible hydropower potential (42000 MW)
harnessed (NEA, 2018)
– 30% of arable land is irrigated (CBS, 2012)
– 22% of groundwater utilized in Terai (Shrestha et al., 2018)
– Crop productivity is significantly lower than rest of South Asia (Bartett et
al., 2010)

3. 3
Hydropower Projects: Current
3
Existing: 38.5 MW (Lower Chamelia and Naugadh Khola)

4. 4
Hydropower Projects: Current and Future
4
Existing: 38.5 MW (Lower Chamelia and Naugadh Khola)
Construction: 183.7 MW (15 projects)
Planned: 9691.8 MW (32 projects)
Proposed: 11,122.8 (102 projects)

5. 5

6. 6
Water Resource Planning
Adapted from: Harou, 2014
 Should ideally meet
demands and achieve
various societal objectives
(‘balanced’) under a wide
range of plausible futures
(‘robust’)
 Main Challenge:
 A shared vision to
develop a
basin/country that is
robust and balanced

7. 7
OBJECTIVESDigo Jal Bikas
 Construction of Sound
Knowledgebase
 Development & Applications of
Tools, Models & Approaches
 Support the Development of
Integrated Policy & Management
Goal: Promote sustainable WRD in Western Nepal through
balancing future vision, economic growth, social justice and healthy
& resilient ecosystems
TEAM
Lead: IWMI
Collaborators:
Kathmandu University
NWCF
Duke University

8. 8
Digo Jal Bikas: Operational Framework

9. 9
Project Footprint in Western Nepal

10. 10
Basin Highlights – Based on 3660 Households
Surveyed
 Women primarily (62%)
responsible for water collection
 47% have access to piped water
systems
 Primarily smallholder farming
systems-Average landholding (0.5
ha )
 16% female headed households
 69% engaged in NRM related
groups/committees, only 22% female
membership
 Over 50% reported drought, followed
by hailstorm, untimely rain
 Only 3.3% reported support services
following climate induced disasters
 61% rain-fed agriculture
 5.8% own improved ag technical
equipment
 Average annual income is NPR
93,531

11. 11
Water Availability Assessment | Outputs
• P =1,332 mm
• Q =1,004 mm
• AET =474 mm
Water
Balance
Variation
Across
Physiographic
Regions

12. 12
Future Projections
 Trends noticed:
– Temperature increases
consistently
– Increase in
precipitation variability
209@Plain 207@Plain
406@Hill 513@Hill
202@Mountain 303@Mountain
DJF MAM JJAS ON Annual DJF MAM JJAS ON Annual DJF
0
200
400
0
200
400
0
200
400
Seasonal Change for pr
DPrecipitaion[%]
Climate
Scenarios
RCP4.5_NF_Low Risk
RCP4.5_NF_Consensus
RCP4.5_MF_Low Risk
RCP4.5_MF_Consensus
RCP4.5_FF_Consensus
RCP8.5_NF_Low Risk
RCP8.5_NF_Con
RCP8.5_MF_Con
209@Plain
406@Hill
202@Mountain
DJF MAM JJAS ON Annual
0
4
8
12
0
4
8
12
0
4
8
12
DMaxTemperature°C
Climate
Scenarios
RCP4.5_NF_Low Risk
RCP4.5_NF_Consensus
209@Plain 207@Plain 405@Plain
406@Hill 513@Hill 514@Hill
202@Mountain 303@Mountain 104@Hill
DJF MAM JJAS ON Annual DJF MAM JJAS ON Annual DJF MAM JJAS O
0
200
400
0
200
400
0
200
400
Seasonal Change for pr
DPrecipitaion[%]
Climate
Scenarios
RCP4.5_NF_Low Risk
RCP4.5_NF_Consensus
RCP4.5_MF_Low Risk
RCP4.5_MF_Consensus
RCP4.5_FF_Consensus
RCP8.5_NF_Low Risk
RCP8.5_NF_Consensus
RCP8.5_MF_Consensus
RCP8.5_FF_Consens
RCP8.5_FF_High Ris
Higher temperatures, prolonged monsoon
and sporadic rain events even in drier
months are projected

13. 13
Visions for Development in Western Nepal
 State-led development
– Development of large-scale hydropower and irrigation projects
 Local demand-driven development:
– Priority to municipal water supply, small hydro, farmer-managed
irrigation schemes
 Preserving ecosystem integrity:
– Priority to environmental conservation and development leveraging
natural assets
→ Visions inform scenarios analysis: Full infrastructure, limited infrastructure,
and environmental development

14. 14
Western Nepal Environmental Flows Calculator

15. 15
Potential Trade-Offs and Tensions
Energy Generation
Large-scale/storage plants for
export vs. small plants for
domestic demand and rural
electrification
Findings: Storage generates
much more power and revenue
Hydropower and irrigation
Storage hydropower for vs.
water for agricultural production
Findings: Very little tradeoff in
Nepal (Storage elevates year-
round irrigation water
availability)
Environmental
Impacts of environmental flow
constraints
Findings: More stringent E-flows
reduces ag. and energy
production
Institutional
Energy for domestic demands
or export; transboundary water
flows Findings: Tradeoff in local
vs. export consumption of
energy; some tradeoff from Terai
irrigation vs. flow into India

16. Targeting small holder farmers to improve dry season irrigation via
climate smart technology
Agriculture: A conduit for socio-economic transformation

17. 17
Walking the Talk
 GESI Framework:
– Gender analysis was done community and
organizational level
 GESI is a fringe issue in government agenda
– Restricted only to policy level
“Water resources are not gender-
specific. Water resources are
natural resources. It is not relevant
to gender. We cannot say that
there should be gender-friendly
water extraction
-Male engineer, Government

18. 18
Some highlights of DJB outputs

19. 19
Impact and Legacy
 Novel approaches were developed, applied- e.g.. E-flows, masculinity
workshop, participatory gender training, HEM, Climate Futures
analysis
 The hydrological models are being applied in the National Irrigation
Master Plan
 The E-flows Assessment will also be incorporated into the Irrigation
Master Plan
 All project generated data, tools, models and publications will be
available through the IWMI water data portal as well as the DJB
project website:
– http://waterdata.iwmi.org/
– http://djb.iwmi.org/

20. 20 20
Acknowledgements: This study is made possible by the
generous support of the American people through the
United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) under Digo Jal Bikas (DJB) project.
Thank
You
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