Environmental management plan (EMP) for Melamchi water supply project, Nepal

Abstract

More than 1.5 million people live in the Kathmandu valley. The valley is facing an extreme shortage of water supply. At the same time the demand is escalating rapidly. To address this issue of scarcity of water, the government of Nepal has proposed a project of inter-basin transfer of water from Melamchi River located 40 Km north-east of the Kathmandu valley. The project will cover two districts and three municipalities and will potentially have significant impacts on the environment. In accordance with the Environmental Protection Regulation of Nepal (1997), the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has undergone an EIA during the feasibility study stage of the proposed project. The recommendations contained in the EIA were integrated into the project design for implementation in 2006. This paper summarizes the background of MWSP, the environmental concerns described in the EIA and the status of Environmental Management Plan (EMP) developed to address environmental compliance and other issues involving participation and support of the local people. This paper also provides some lessons to learn on the modalities of addressing the demands and grievances of the local people concerning environmental management.

Assessment of seasonal variation in water quality of Dal Lake (Kashmir, India) using multivariate statistical techniques

“…Hierarchical agglomerative clustering is the most common approach, which provides intuitive similarity relationships between any one sample and the entire data set and is illustrated by a dendrogram, which provides a visual summary of the clustering processes, presenting a picture of the groups and their proximity, with a dramatic reduction in dimensionality of the original data [3].…”

“…For the data set pertaining to winter season, among the three PCs, PC1 explaining 31.81% of the total variance has strong positive loading on NH 4 -N, BOD 5 , COD, NO 3 -N and strong negative loading on DO. PC1 signifies organic pollution from domestic wastewater [3]. PC2 explaining 25.44% of total variance has strong positive loading on EC and strong negative loading on pH and is attributed to the agricultural runoff [22,23].…”

“…Anthropogenic discharges constitute an invariable polluting source, while surface runoff is a seasonal phenomenon, largely affected by climate within the basin [2]. Seasonal variations in precipitation, surface run-off, ground water flow, interception and abstraction strongly affect lake volume and consequently the concentration of pollutants in a water body [3]. Human activities are major factors determining the quality of surface water through atmospheric pollution, effluent discharges, use of agricultural chemicals, eroded soils and land use [4].…”

Evaluation of spatial and seasonal variations in surface water quality using multivariate statistical techniques

“…The anthropogenic discharges constitute a constant polluting source, whereas surface runoff is a seasonal phenomenon, largely affected by climate within the basin (Karbassi et al, 2007;Najafpour et al, 2008;Singh et al, 2004). Seasonal variations in precipitation, surface run-off, ground water flow, interception and abstraction strongly affect river discharge and, consequently the concentrations of pollutants in river water (Khadka and Khanal, 2008;Mtethiwa et al, 2008;Vega et al, 1998). Human activities are a major factor determining the quality of the surface and ground water through atmospheric pollution, effluent discharges, use of agricultural chemicals, eroded soils and land use (Niemi et al, 1990).…”

Downstream Impacts of the Melamchi Inter-Basin Water Transfer Plan (MIWTP) Under Current and Future Climate Change Projections

“…900 million till 2011. The demand and grievances of local people plus political circumstances and challenges in engaging the private sector partner have all contributed to delay the completion of the project (Khadka and Khanal 2008).…”