Efforts have been initiated to conserve water sources in Alital Rural Municipality of Dadeldhura, which has been suffering from acute shortage of water after the water sources went dry.
The Alital Rural Municipality has started constructing ponds, afforestation drive and collection of rain water after the water sources started drying up in the area as a result of deforestation, open grazing, haphazard construction of rural roads and climate change among others.
Rural Municipality Chairman Bal Bahadur Gurung said they have also started the work of drafting aquatic biological diversity protection policy and environment-friendly policy along with the conservation of water sources.
In the review meeting titled ‘Water’ organised by Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists, Chairman Gurung said that they had made seven-point commitment on August 30, 2019 and they are working as per the same commitment.
Saying that the third village assembly has included the issue of protecting water sources under the conservation of forest and environment programme in the budget for fiscal year 2019/2020, Gurung said, “We have decided to carry out tree plantation in public areas, open places and on both sides of the roads in an attempt to create a clean environment under the clean and beautiful Alital campaign.
He said that they have constructed a nursery to produce 60,000 plants in coordination with rural municipality and forest office for the same. Gurung said that they have also managed budget to construct a high-tech nursery on the premises of rural municipality to produce more than one lakh plants in the coming year. The plants will be worthy of transplantation by mid-June. He said that the plants will be transplanted around Alital, in the area of newly constructed roads and water sources.
Alital is situated in Chure region. He said that Thali, Melganja, Nauli and Koilani Danda are also suffering from dryness and water shortage. Gurung said that the work for the conservation of water sources is being carried out in coordination with various government and non-governmental organisations.
The rural municipality is making a master plan to conserve Alital. Expressing happiness over the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists’ work to raise awareness among the villagers to make the rural municipality environment-friendly and to conserve aquatic biological diversity, he said that the meeting held on January 25 and February 2, 2019 had endorsed the seven-point commitment made in 2018 and decided to implement it.
He said that the discussions will be held with legal eagles to make policies on the above mentioned issues and a programme will be held for a few days to publish them in the Nepal Gazette.
Vice-Chairperson of the Rural Municipality Jala Kumari Bogati said that the rain water is being collected in ward No. 4 of Koyelani and work is also being carried out to collect rain water in the ward No. 8 of Dolakot.
She said that the Rural Municipality and ward office are carrying out a study to collect rain water in other wards also.
Ward No. 4 executive member Gomati Bohara said that the rain water is being collected in her ward. She said that the trees have been planted in the community forest and 16 plastic tanks were distributed and four recharge ponds were constructed to collect rainwater in Koyelani for the people who have been suffering from acute shortage of water. “We are planning to construct ponds in other places also,” she added.
Ward No. 5 member Bal Bahadur Budha Magar said that the budget has been allocated to provide training to the office bearers of the community forest for the conservation of water sources, afforestation and conservation of environment.
Saying that the settlement on the hill is facing a major water shortage problem, he said, “We have been facing a plight as there is no thick settlement and we even don’t have budget too.”
Work is also being carried out to conserve water sources in ward No. 5. An official at the ward No. 5 Mekhraj Joshi said that trees have been planted this year by allocating budget for the conservation of four-five water sources.
Ward No. 6 Chairman Kumbhar Budha has been conserving 10-11 water sources.
Chairman Bir Bahadur Bohara said that lift irrigation has been started to resolve the issue of water in Ward No. 7. He said that Rs 5 million has been allocated for the Melganch Nauli Lift Irrigation Project.
Similarly, Rs 2 million and Rs 1 million have been allocated for Khinnebadi and Koirala respectively for the project.
He said that roads are being constructed in his ward by protecting the water sources.
Ward No. 8 Chairman Ganesh Bahadur Thapa Magar said that the RDC Nepal has constructed a recharge pond under the water project. He said that various programmes are being organised in coordination with rural municipality to plant trees and to protect water sources while constructing the roads.
Ward No. 2, which is far from the Rural Municipality, Chairman Janak Bahadur Malla said, “Though there is sufficient water in his ward, we have not been able to utilize it properly.” He, however, said that they have been providing service to 300 households through a small hydropower project and also have been providing irrigation facility to the locals.
As the open grazing has been destroying the plants, local representatives and locals should pay attention towards it, Nepal Red Cross Society Secretary Krishna Dutta Joshi said.
Ward No. 3 local member Nirmala Rawal said that situation has been changing in the recent time.
Though much works could not be done in a span of five months, the work done so far is laudable, said Ward No. 7 local Local Tek Bahadur Roka said.
The review meeting organised by Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists in the first week of February had expressed commitment in four more points along with the commitment made earlier.
The meeting had decided to make aquatic biological diversity protection policy, environment conservation and environment-friendly policy and action plan for managing the local natural resources.
It had also decided to use modern technology to collect rain water in the places where there are no water sources, to protect forest by imposing ban on open grazing and to implement all the commitments made earlier.
