Koilabas (Dang) : It is already the midst of rainy season. Natural water wells have just started showing some signs of water. These natural water wells are enough to quench the thirst of local people for three months a year. But for the remaining nine months, locals are forced to go to a tap that is within the compound of Indian Shashastra Seema Bal (SSB) to fetch water. It has been already a decade since locals in Koilabas have been facing this plight. This was not the case until 10 years ago.
There was a time when entire Koilabas market was full of natural water wells. The sound of flowing water would make the ambience of the market completely different. There is a stream in Koilabas, but there is no water these days. Koilabas stream has already depleted four meters down, but it is difficult to trace the bottom of this stream.
The reason: unchecked excavation of stones and sands. This haphazard stone and sand quarrying in Koilabas started some 16 years ago.
The then District Development Committee exported stones and sands in the Koilabas Stream to India by awarding a contract to this effect. The stones and sands quarried through this stream reached as far as Kanpur to build railway station there. There was no one to check this when the stones and sands were quarried in haphazard manner.
Koilabas was already displaced. The border point was still open. The stream got sunk by four meter as the unchecked stone and sand quarrying continued for long. The stream got dry with no water. Only some herbs can be seen in these in the natural wells that dried up gradually.
Although Koilabas was already displaced, there were some people who still hoped that things would possibly change in coming years. These optimistic people continued staying there.
But water is the most important things they needed to survive.
The Indian SSB which built its camp in ‘no-mans land’ some eight years ago dug a 400-feet deep boring. But as Nepal Government did not allocate any budget for building similar facility, locals could not afford to build one such facility in Nepali side of the border.
But there is no electricity in the Indian side of the border. There is electricity in the Nepali side. This eventually started a practice of exchanging water with electricity.
SSB Police Inspector in Koilabas Post LS Mina said the water had helped improve the relations between Nepal and India. “We are happy to provide water,” he said. “We have 400-feet deep boring for water in our side of the border. This water reaches to Nepal. We have received electricity from Koilabas.”
The electricity bill amounts as much as Rs 1,000 a month. Since SSB uses generators most of the time, the electricity bill does not normally amount that high. Ward Chairman of Gadhawa Rural Municipality-8 Saddam Siddhiqi said Nepali people use water that worth more than the electricity they supply to SSB.
Although budget is allocated each fiscal year to address this perennial problem of drinking water in Koilabas after there was scarcity of water, failure to utilize the budget properly has left the problem as it was before. “A plan was made to bring water through tap after the natural water wells dried up. Although water was brought from Boksare, this did not last for long,” said Ward Chairman Siddhiqui. “Each year there was a budget of Rs 1 million to Rs 1.5 million allocated for water supply. The budget was spent for digging and burying pipeline for the tap water.”
Necessary works have been expedited to provide water to local people after the formation of local government. There is a plan to extract water from 175 meter below the ground level to distribute water to local people. A deep boring has been installed in Koilabas Bazar itself now. Drinking Water Division Office under Provincial Government has been working to build this facility.
Water Woes
It has been already a decade and a half since water dried up in the wells dug for water in Gadhawa Rural Municipality-8 in Koilabas. In 2065 BS, taps were installed after water dried up in wells. Water sources in Boksare area gradually started drying up five years ago. Then the water in the taps dried up too, leaving locals of a total 120 households to depend on India for drinking water. “We need to go to SSB camp if the water sources dried up here. We do not get water from any other sources during that time,” said a local Kamala KC. “Earlier we used to get our water jars filled with Rs 20 and bring them to us through vehicles. SSB provides us water these days.’
A border outpost of Armed Police Force (APF) is stationed in Koilabas for border security. The APF personnel also drink the water provided by the SSB. “Local people seem to have been facing bigger problem than us. People have to suffer a lot as there is acute scarcity of water during dry season,” said APF Inspector at Koilabas Border Outpost Ishwar Khanal. “We have been somehow managing water in coordination with the SSB.”
Locals flock to SSB camp walking past the APF outpost. “Our Nepali brothers and sisters go to SSB camp walking through our outpost to fetch water. They come back with clean drinking water in gallons. We see this. We feel sad about it. We are helpless as we are also fetching water from India,” said Inspector Khanal.
Locals had dug wells for drinking water after natural wells dried up. People used to fetch water in plastic gallons and other utensils.
Factors Behind Drying Up of Water Sources
Koilabas in Dang started to be known among people even before the East-West Highway came into operation. Koilabas had a distinct identity since then. It was a bustling market for people living in upper part of Dang and other hilly villages to buy salt and kerosene. It was a famous custom point with India in the entire region. Total population of Koilabas, which adjoins with Jaruwa of Balrampur District of India, is 1,197. Koilabas was a single Village Development Committee prior to the restructuring of the state. But now it is reduced to Ward Number 8 of Gadhawa Rural Municipality. Hardly a bus a day operates from Tulsipur– the district headquarter of Dang– to reach there.
A local Sai Siddhiqui, 60, said the main reason behind drying up of water sources in Koilabas is stone quarrying in the local stream. “Workers took away all the stones. The level of natural wells reached above the the ground levels. The level of ground surfaced became further deep. The water in the natural wells thus started flowing in the stream itself,” he said.
Local residents believe that haphazard stone quarrying caused depletion of ground water. They had enough water in the wells until there was water in Koilabas stream. A dam built in Koilabas stream was destroyed in the course of stone and sand quarrying. A contract was awarded through District Development Committee for this. Stones that were quarried haphazardly were exported to India between 2063 to 2066 BS. This eventually caused the level of the stream to deplete, making the level of stream deeper than the level of wells dug by locals.
Another local Ahmed Siddhiqui believes that it was since that time they began facing acute shortage of water. “When the stones from the local stream were exported, the level of stream went down gradually. All the sources of water dried up since then,” he said. “The biggest problem Koilabas has now is water. People fetch water from places that lie some five kilometer away in India.”
Amid worsening water crisis, deep boring were installed in six different places in Koilabas at the joint initiative of Drinking Water and Sanitation Division, and Underground Water and Irrigation Division. But there was no water. There was hardly any trace of water when the seventh deep boring was dug up to 175 meter deep.
Chairman of Gadhawa Rural Municipality-8 Siddhiqui said they are planning to supply water to locals through water tanks. “We have installed a deep boring some six months ago. We have now found enough water from this deep boring to supply to this settlement,” he said. “Since we did not have any budget for the supply the water, we could not do this during last fiscal year. Now we already have an estimated budget. We also have Users’ Group for this drinking water project. This is very active. Construction work of water tank has also already completed.”
A project to supply drinking water to locals has also fallen under the project of Provincial Government. “We have already spent around Rs 6 million. How much money will be spent for this project till the end will be known only later,” Chief of Water Division Office Guna Nidhi Pokharel said. “We have a plan to distribute water in three to four month period.”
Koilabas is not alone to face the crisis of groundwater, though. This problem is getting worse in upper part of Dang as well. The level of underground water is depleting in the settlements that are away from the river bank. Drying up of natural wells much before the start of dry season and drying up of other water sources are some of the direct consequences of this problem.
DP Thakur of Department of Drinking and Sewage Management said over exploitation of Chure is also the main factor behind the drying up of the sources of underground water. “Over exploitation of Chure is one among the reasons behind the drying up of underground sources of water,” he said. “The more water flows from the earth surface into the ground, the more the level of underground water witnesses its increase. Over exploitation of Chure has hindered water from flowing underground.”
Over exploitation of Chure buries the crevices and destroy porous rocks and stones. This eventually stops water from flowing into underground, causing obstruction in the sources of underground water. Thakur said the geologically fragile area is considered sensitive in terms of ecology. There is plain area comprising of stones, pebbles, sands and rocks deposited by the River on the foot of the Chure. This plays very important role in the storage of underground water for the irrigation of plain areas in the South. The rapid depletion of Chure has started showing signs that underground water sources are drying up. In addition to this, destruction of traditional ponds and wetland areas have further worsened the crisis of underground water.
Snail-paced Progress in Survey
Although a study was conducted on the status of underground water in Kathmandu Valley, no such studies have been carried out in other parts of the country. The survey conducted in Kathmandu Valley, however, has shown that the situation of underground water is getting worse. Water and Sewage Management Division had a program to conduct study on the status of underground water when there was shallow tube well project. But the survey work has almost come to an end after the formation of local level government.
Although the level of underground water in the Terai region has also depleted significantly, there has not been any detailed study conducted on this. “We are not in position to say how much has the underground water level in Dang or Terai has come down,” said Chief of Division Water Office in Dang Guna Nidhi Pokharel. “We have found natural wells that have dried up lately in villages. This means that the level of underground water is depleting.”
Underground Water Development Committee in Kathmandu had earlier conducted a study of the water level in two different locations in Kathmandu Valley. Of them, its findings suggested that the water level in Taudaha area in Kathmandu and Lubhu area in Lalitpur had gone down. The study in Kritipur-8 Taudaha was conducted in 2001.
Need to Conserve Underground Water
Conservation of underground water is a must. Water scientist Dev Kumar Syangbo said conservation of underground water is necessary just as any other sources of surface water. He said that construction of recharging ponds, conservation of wet land and protection of Chure can help to conserve underground water.
Syangbo said the management of waste materials is equally important issue for the conservation of underground water. “There both degradable and non-degradable wastes. There are many wastes that may leave a long-term impact on human health,” he said. “We should manage the wastes in such a way that they are not linked with the underground water.”
There is a practice to set up tube well to extract ground water. This is also posing another challenge to conserve ground water. “There must be some regulations in place to check the practice of setting up tube wells in haphazard manner,” he said. “While formulating laws that restricts the practice of installing tube wells by anyone, an arrangement has to be made to work on this issue from one single place.”
DP Thakur of Department of Drinking and Sewage Management suggested the government to come up with concrete programs to conserve underground water. He argued that the government should ban developing any new structures by destroying traditional ponds, wetland, and other places that help to recharge groundwater. “The underground water is depleting day by day,” he said. “No comprehensive program has been introduced so far to manage the water level. Any such comprehensive program must include measures to conserve ground water.”
In Terai, measures such as irrigating water in the flat land and building ponds or water spouts to collect water can be implemented for this. Building check dams in small gorges and rivulets can also help to recharge underground water. Similarly, some measures can be applied to stop water from flowing away immediately in the steep and sloppy land. Thakur suggested that local level government should also formulate appropriate policy to develop technologies that help to collect rainwater in the rooftop of houses and send the water collected thus to the ground for recharging underground water.
