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Public Water Sources in Rural Watersheds of Nepal’s Middle Mountains: Issues and Constraints

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Abstract

Inadequacy and poor quality of water supply for domestic purposes is increasingly becoming a concern in rural catchments of the Middle Mountains of Nepal. Water quantity is an issue in pocket areas of these catchments, while water quality is subject to concern in most of the water sources. Microbiological contamination in particular poses a risk to human health. In addition, sediment pollution during the monsoon season is perceived as an issue by the local residents. Elevated phosphate and nitrate levels in many water sources indicate intensive interaction with surface water hailing from agricultural areas and human settlements. These water quantity and quality concerns in two watersheds of Nepal, the Jhikhu Khola and the Yarsha Khola watersheds, are not isolated cases. Similar problems are reported from other watersheds monitored under the People and Resource Dynamics in Mountain Watersheds of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas (PARDYP) project in China, India, and Pakistan and the literature of this region.

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Acknowledgments

This project was jointly financed by the SDC, the IDRC, and the ICIMOD. The authors acknowledge the continuous support of the donors and the continuous assistance of the colleagues in PARDYP Nepal. The follow-up investigations of the public water sources in the Jhikhu Khola catchment were supported by the Australian Agency for International Development. The comments of two reviewers were highly appreciated. Thanks to Alex Herrmann, Hydrology Group University of Bern for the cartography of Figures 1 and 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. PARDYP/International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Juerg Merz, Gopal Nakarmi, Smita Shrestha & Bhawani S. Dongol

  2. PARDYP/University of Bern, Hydrology Group, Department of Geography, HallerStrasse 12, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Juerg Merz, Monika Schaffner & Rolf Weingartner

  3. School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal

    Bed M. Dahal, Sangeeta Shakya & Subodh Sharma

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  1. Juerg Merz
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  2. Gopal Nakarmi
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  3. Smita Shrestha
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  4. Bed M. Dahal
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  5. Bhawani S. Dongol
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  6. Monika Schaffner
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  7. Sangeeta Shakya
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  8. Subodh Sharma
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  9. Rolf Weingartner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juerg Merz.

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Merz, J., Nakarmi, G., Shrestha, S. et al. Public Water Sources in Rural Watersheds of Nepal’s Middle Mountains: Issues and Constraints. Environmental Management 34, 26–37 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0118-6

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