Kathmandu, May 4

The Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project has sought to add soil and water conservation as new components of the project. Officials of the project today held discussion in this regard with the Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management.

Director General at the department Bijaya Raj Poudyal said the project expressed its interest in adding soil and water conservation as its new components.

“Earlier, the project focused on water use, flood control and beautification, but now it is also interested in soil and water conservation,”Poudyal told The Himalayan Times, adding, “The department has taken this positively.”

The project funded by Asian Development Bank is being implemented under Water and Energy Commission Secretariat, Department of Irrigation and High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation. The committee is in the process of preparing detailed project report for the second phase of the Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project. The second phase will focus on increasing water availability in the Bagmati River during dry season.

According to HPCIDBC, the second phase will comprise construction of a 95-metre high dam to flush Pashupati area’s garbage, establishment of water treatment plants and park on the banks of the river. The US $36 million project will continue until 2021.

The total catchment area of the Bagmati River is about 157 square km with a length of 44 km from its origin at an elevation of 2,732 meters to Katuwaldaha, which lies at an elevation of 1,140 metres.

The Bagmati Action Plan (2009-2014) focused on the part of the Bagmati River and its tributaries within Kathmandu Valley. Major tributaries of the Bagmati River in the Valley include Manahara, Dhobikhola, Tukucha, Bishnumati, Balkhu, and Nakkhu rivers.

While there are frequent high discharges at the time of flood in the Bagmati River, the overall water discharge is decreasing. The tapping of water for drinking and irrigation purposes from main sources of rivers is the root cause of decreasing water flow in the river.