Water accounting and water institutions' study of Manusmara River Basin
Date
2001-06
Authors
Sijapati, Suman, author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Abstract
Manusmara River Basin, a sub-basin of the Bagmati River Basin, lies in the Terai of Nepal. It lies in the sub-tropical climatic zone. The topography is almost flat with a very gentle slope towards the south. Up to the mid 1960s, a large portion was covered by dense, Sal forest. At present, only 6% of the area is occupied by forest. Over the last few decades, consumption of water especially for agriculture has increased tremendously. This paper draws out the history of agricultural development in the basin and its interface with the efforts made by the fanners to use the basin water resources. Water accounting has revealed that Manusmara is an "open basin" and it still offers ample scope for transbasin transfers and further harnessing of the available water. Even during the driest year, only 46% of the available water resources is depleted. This leaves more than half of the basin's yield for undeclared uses. The basin is at the initial stage of development. On the basis of the water account and an institutional analysis, the paper offers some suggestions for integrated development of the basin.
Description
Presented at the 2001 USCID water management conference, Transbasin water transfers on June 27-30, 2001 in Denver, Colorado.