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Water Quality Assessment of Bagmati River and its tributaries within Kathmandu Valley
Bagmati River and its tributaries sustains more than 2.5 million
people living in the Kathmandu Valley by supplying water for
drinking, agricultural, industrial, and domestic purposes (CBS,
2011). On the contrary, human activities (modifying riparian and
in-stream conditions, land use changes, waste dumping,
sewage discharge, etc. ) are deteriorating the biological, physio-
chemical and hydro-morphological characteristics of the Basin
(Shah and Shah, 2013). Despite receiving most attention
among river systems of the country (Shrestha et al., 2008),
increasing rate of these human impacts brought by skyrocketing
population (CBS, 2011) indicates the need of more frequent
assessment of spatial and temporal variations of water quality
of Bagmati River in Kathmandu Valley.
1Anusha Pandey, 2Dr. Ram Devi Tachamo Shah, 3Dr. Deep Narayan Shah
1Nayaa Aayaam Multi-Disciplinary Institute (NAMI), Jorpati, Nepal, 2Aquatic Ecology Centre, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal, 1,3 Assistant Professor,
Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
No.of sites:60 sampling sites
Sampling Season: wet season (September 2016
Site selection:
•effluent discharge point,
•land use,
•waste dumping,
•Riparian and and in-stream conditions
•Confluence of tributaries.
•Technique: Field Screening protocol
I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards my supervisor Dr.Ram Devi
Tachamo Shah for her constant support, guidance and feedbacks and everything.
Similarly, I would like to thank Dr.Deep Narayan Shah for his immense hard work
and support during the research. In addition, I would like to acknowledge two
organizations; SmartPhones4Water-Nepal (S4W-Nepal) and Himalayan
Biodiversity and Climate Change Center (HimBioClic) for providing necessary
equipment and support for the research.
Central Bureau of Statistics (2011) National Population and Housing
Census 2011,National Planning Commission Secretariat,
Government of Nepal.
GoN/NTNC (2009) Bagmati Action Plan (2009–2014). Kathmandu, Nepal.
Shah, R.D.T., and Shah, D.N.S. (2013) Evaluation of benthic
macroinvertebrate assemblage for disturbance zonation in urban
rivers using multivariate analysis: Implications for river management.
J. Earth Syst.Sci.122,No.pp. 1125–1139.
Shrestha, M., Pradhan, B., Shah, D. N., Tachamo, R. D., Sharma, S. and
Moog, O. (2008) Water quality mapping of the Bagmati river basin,
Kathmandu valley; In:Proceedings of Scientific Conference on Rivers
in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Ecology and Environmental Assessment
(eds), pp.189–198.
The river quality class ranged from I (none to very slight organic
polluted) to V (extreme polluted). Similarly, various physio-chemical
parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, water
temperature, etc. were recorded to support the biologically determined
river quality classes. Additionally, land use map with six land use types
(urban, semi-urban, forest, shrublands, rice and agriculture) generated
by SmartPhones4Water, Nepal in 2016 was used to link water quality
classes and land use types.
•In Figure 2, red color denotes extremely polluted (CLASS V) while blue color denotes very slight to not organic pollution levels (CLASS I) rivers (Figure
3 and 4). Headwaters, inside forests, which are not easily accessible to humans were recorded as of Class I while rivers in semi-urban to urban areas
were recorded as of quality Class V.
•River water quality deteriorated rapidly as it passes through human settlements (Figure 3).
•Similarly, physio-chemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, water temperature, etc. recorded support the biologically
determined river quality classes.
Further Research:
•These water quality classes should be correlated with their respective land use and hydro-morphological characteristics to access the impacts of
human beings in Bagmati river and its tributaries.
•Similar type of study should be conducted in dry season to analyze the impact of water quantity on quality of Bagmati River Basin within Kathmandu
Valley.
Methods
Figure 2: Study Area with sampling sites during monsoon pre-
and monsoon period.
Introduction
•To address spatial
variations of water quality
of Bagmati river basin
•To make a color map of
river water quality in
Kathmandu Valley
Objectives
Field Screening protocol
provides sum up values
(biological and sensory
features) that determines
the water quality class of
the study section directly
on the spot. Our Study
area, i.e. Kathmandu
Valley lies between
27°32’13”Nand
27°49’10”N latitudes
and 85°11’31" E and
85°31’38" E longitudes
(GoN/NTNC, 2009).
Figure 1: Bagmati River at
Budhanilkantha (inside Shivapuri-
Nagarjun National Park).
Figure 3: River Water Quality Class vs. Land Use Figure 4: River Water Quality Class vs. Elevation
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
Result and Discussions