This site uses cookies, as explained in our terms of use. If you consent, please close this message and continue to use this site.
1 min Read
At daybreak, the villagers, mostly women and children, come out carrying containers of different shapes and sizes. They walk to mul paniyar, or the local spring, and wait for hours to collect water. This is a familiar sight in Sundamunda village, ward 7 of Dallekh VDC in Darchula district. A total of 34 households are directly dependent on this source. In lean season (roughly February to May), more households come to collect water here. Locals have to spend many hours each day walking to and from the spring.
Being closer to spring does not make things easier. Kalawati Thagunna lives very close to the spring. Every day she or one of her family members has to make 11 trips to the spring. But the water they get is not enough to meet their household needs.
According to locals, water flow in the spring has decreased over the past years. Given the shortage of water, they have to prioritize their most urgent need – drinking – and use what remains for household work and livestock.
Apart from making everyday life difficult, the lack of water has affected health and sanitation. Although the VDC has been declared an open-defecation free (ODF) site, people have stopped using toilets.
Despite the huge importance of the spring, there is no system or institutional setup to protect and maintain the water source. The community does not have a backup plan or coping strategies. When asked what they will do when the spring dries up, most of the locals said they would travel to another spring further up in the village.
ICIMOD’s initial observation indicates that there is a clear need to improve management of the spring and increase its water discharge. The District Water Supply Department has plans to extend pipelines to all households. However, reviving or increasing discharge simultaneously will be of utmost importance given the growing scarcity of water. Similarly, there is a need to create an institutional mechanism for the maintenance of the spring. Certain rules of hygiene should also be set, because most people wash their clothes and bathe in the spring.
This calls for a community-centric approach to spring management and restoration. The Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KSLCDI) of ICIMOD facilitates such an approach by building the communities’ capacity to manage springs.
Share
Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.
Related Content
Local community leaders from village development committees (VDCs) gathered 2 Decem-ber 2015 in Bhakunde Besi, Kavre for a one day ...
After a yearlong effort through an action research by ICIMOD’s Koshi Basin Programme (KBP) and its partner Green Governance of Nepal ...
Likewise, indirect impacts like losses to agriculture and livelihoods due to erratic rains in high altitudes may result in increased ...
Hundreds of earthquake-affected families in Ratanchaura and Baseshwor Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Sindhuli district are no longer sitting in ...
The conference was organized to identify issues, bottlenecks, and areas requiring immediate attention in solid waste management and to explore ...
People in the region have taken a great interest in air pollution. The risks of air pollution affecting people may ...
A team from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) visited community based flood early warning system (CBFEWS) sites ...
Myanmar has developed Community Forestry Strategic Action Plan 2018–2030 to address forest degradation and improve the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities ...