{"id":60052533,"date":"2024-09-27T12:23:07","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T11:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?p=60052533"},"modified":"2024-09-27T12:41:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T11:41:43","slug":"nepal-pushes-ahead-with-river-diversion-plans-despite-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/water\/nepal-pushes-ahead-with-river-diversion-plans-despite-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal pushes ahead with river diversion plans, despite risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Three years after devastating floods damaged the headworks of the Melamchi water supply project, reconstruction efforts are now underway 60km northeast of Nepal\u2019s capital, Kathmandu. Despite the disaster, plans are advancing to divert water from two more rivers, Yangri and Larke, east of the Melamchi River, to supply much-needed drinking water to the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially proposed in 1997<\/a>, the project aimed to channel 170 million litres a day (MLD) from the Melamchi basin through a 26.5km tunnel. The Melamchi Water Supply Development Board (MWSDB) was established the following year to address the challenges of \u201cinadequate water supply, increased water demand and poor management of the available water resources.\u201d This was largely due to Kathmandu\u2019s rapidly growing population, which had ballooned<\/a> from around 150,000 in the 1950s to over 500,000 by 1991, putting immense pressure on the water sources of the metropolitan area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former water resources minister Dipak Gyawali explained that \u201cThe Melamchi water diversion [project] was just one of the 30 sources of drinking water for Kathmandu Valley, suggested by a 1973 study report.\u201d These included the local rivers of Kathmandu Valley<\/a>, like the Balkhu and Kodku, the Roshi River in neighbouring Kavre, and snow-fed rivers such as the Sunkoshi and Trishuli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut Nepali officials preferred the Melamchi [project], saying it would be easier to acquire land in the area,\u201d Gyawali added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A history of setbacks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) initially approved a loan for the project in 2001, with a completion target of 2006<\/a>. But three co-financiers \u2013 the World Bank, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency \u2013 pulled out after a few years. In 2008, the ADB and the Government of Nepal restructured the project, with the first phase budgeted at USD 317.3 million, with an expected completion date of 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathmandu\u2019s population exceeded 2 million, having nearly quadrupled since the project was first conceived<\/blockquote><\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to the MWSDB website<\/a>, construction finally began in 2010 but was delayed due to poor contractor performance. In 2012, the contract was terminated and the project resumed in 2014 under a new contractor, Italian company Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti di Ravenna (CMC). But the 2015 earthquake in Kathmandu compounded the challenges, with more work required of CMC; the disputes that followed between the contractor and the government led to further delays, with the case ending up before an adjudication court. Widespread allegations of corruption<\/a> further stalled progress, with the government refusing to pay the amount determined by the court, which led to CMC withdrawing in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Chinese contractor Sinohydro took over operations<\/a>. Despite disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the first water from the Melamchi project reached Kathmandu in March 2021<\/a>. By this time, Kathmandu\u2019s population exceeded 2 million<\/a>, having nearly quadrupled since the project was first conceived. However, just two months later, a devastating flood, blamed on climate-induced extreme weather<\/a>, destroyed critical infrastructure, causing NPR 2 billion (USD 15 million) in damages<\/a>. Research from the Prakriti Resources Center<\/a>, suggests that the total economic impact of the 2021 Melamchi floods could be as high as USD 500 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recovering from the ruins<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Three years on, much of the Melamchi corridor remains buried under debris and huge boulders. \u00a0Despite ongoing efforts to remove earth near Melamchi Bazaar, the situation remains precarious. Ratna Lamichhane, executive director of MWSDB, told Dialogue Earth that work has already started on a detailed project report for a \u201crobust\u201d new headworks site. This new site would replace the one east of Timbu, where the structures completed in 2021 were subsequently destroyed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An access road is already under construction leading to the Yangri River,  where a future water diversion tunnel will link with Melamchi to the west and the Larke to the east. These would increase the potential of water to be diverted to Kathmandu to 520 MLD. Locals, though, are worried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOfficials in Kathmandu want to divert water from Yangri and Larke to Kathmandu, but people in this area want proper compensation, safety and security. Floods and landslides have become more common and dangerous,\u201d said Sunita Adhikari, vice chair of Panchpokhari Thangpal rural municipality, which encompasses both the Yangri and Larke rivers. The 2021 floods caused enormous loss and damage<\/a> in the Melamchi Valley, which destroyed 63 houses, swept away nearly 17 hectares of land, destroyed crops and killed livestock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternatives vs news plans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While efforts to tap alternative water sources located in the southern and eastern outskirts of the valley \u2013 such as smaller rivers like Sisneri in Makaowanpur, Thosne in Lalitpur and Mahadevkhola in Bhaktapur \u2013 continue, the Nepali government and the ADB remain focused on the Melamchi project. According to Tiresh Prasad Khatri, former executive director of the MWSDB that oversees the project, much of this commitment stems from the substantial sums and time already invested. \u201cSince the government has already spent so much money [NPR 66 billion, or USD 500 million, according to his calculations] and so many years on building the tunnel, water treatment plant, access roads and other infrastructure, the Melamchi [project] remains the most compelling option.\u201d The Melamchi development is one of Nepal\u2019s 21 designated \u201cnational pride<\/a>\u201d infrastructure initiatives, giving it priority status over other development projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahesh Bhattarai, a retired professor of civil engineering at the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, argued that \u201cwith so much at stake\u201d and a growing population, \u201cthe Nepali government has no choice but to go ahead with it\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cThe risks [of climate-induced disasters] are everywhere across the Hindu Kush Himalayas\u2026 but the only option Nepal has is to take measures to mitigate these risks, like the 2021 floods, by building back better and stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons learned?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lamichhane told Dialogue Earth that MWSDB is waiting for the detailed project report \u201cto rebuild a new Melamchi headworks at a safer site\u2026 At the same time, we are working to rebuild, or repair, the access roads and turn them into all-weather roads.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He hopes to begin the reconstruction as early as 2025, with completion expected by 2028. Simultaneously, he says work will begin to redesign two new tunnels east of Melamchi to channel water from the Yangri and Larke rivers. He emphasised that future headworks would be built inside tunnels to protect them from the kind of damage seen in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report found that past designs had failed to address climate risks and that the design flood was exceeded by a factor of 4.5 during the 2021 disaster<\/blockquote><\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

An ADB report<\/a> from November 2023 examined the 2021 Melamchi disaster, attributing it to a combination of excessive rainfall, debris from the 2015 earthquake, glacial lake outburst floods and landslides. \u201cThe geomorphological processes that led to the 2021 events, including landslides, sediment deposition and erosion, etc., will continue to occur in the catchment over the foreseeable future,\u201d it warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also found that past designs had failed to address climate risks and that the design flood \u2013 the maximum flood level anticipated during the project\u2019s design \u2013 was exceeded by a factor of 4.5 during the 2021 disaster. Earlier designs had focused only on rainfall at a time \u201cwhen climate change was [perceived] a non-issue\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report recommended extensive design changes to address the climate challenges and urged the implementation of community safety measures, including a multi-hazard early warning system and a disaster risk management plan, done in consultation with local people. It also called for the \u201cintroduction of solutions to reduce landslide risks and offer broad community cost benefits,\u201d as well as the \u201cestablishment of an integrated river basin management plan to identify, prioritise and implement local hazard protection solutions at vulnerable sites.\u201d Yet, as construction moves forward, none of these safety measures appear to be in place. \u00a0But Lamichhane, from MWSDB, told Dialogue Earth \u201cmuch of that work will be completed before the new phase of construction begins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a similar disaster strikes again, who will be accountable?<\/blockquote>Ajaya Dixit, water and climate expert at ISET-Nepal<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the reconstruction and new plans to divert water from the Yangri and Larke rivers take shape, concerns mount over the lack of attention to climate risks and community protections. Despite the lessons learned from the 2021 disaster, local residents and experts remain sceptical about whether sufficient precautions are being taken to prevent similar catastrophes in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ajaya Dixit, a water and climate expert at the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET-Nepal), summed up the concern: \u201cThe challenges and risks inherent in the Melamchi basin are inherent in the Yangri and the Larke basins. And if a similar disaster strikes again, who will be accountable?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catastrophic floods, exacerbated by climate change, destroyed the Melamchi water supply project in 2021. Reconstruction is underway, but community safety measures are absent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50000560,"featured_media":60052545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,50039903],"tags":[50040325,587,607],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000113],"class_list":["post-60052533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-zh","category-water","tag-river-basins","tag-rivers","tag-water-scarcity","country-nepal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNepal pushes ahead with river diversion plans, despite risks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Catastrophic floods, exacerbated by climate change, destroyed the Melamchi water supply project in 2021. 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