Sustainable Mountain Development No.

56, ICIMOD, Winter 2009

Rainwater Harvesting and

Groundwater Recharge
for Water Storage in the
Kathmandu Valley
Roshan Raj Shrestha, Water for Asian Cities Programme, UN-HABITAT, Nepal, roshan.shrestha@unhabitat.org.np

L
et not one drop of water that falls on the earth Rainwater is used all over the world for drinking,
in the form of rain be allowed to reach the sea irrigation, aquaculture, groundwater recharge, and
without being first made useful to man. These fire fighting. In South Australia, 42% of the population
were the words of Parakramabahu, a 13th century drinks rainwater. In Bangladesh, rainwater is a major
monarch from Sri Lanka, who constructed a massive alternative source of drinking water in arsenic-affected
rainwater harvesting reservoir which is used to areas. At Singapore’s Changi Airport, 63,500 tonnes
irrigate vast stretches of paddy fields in the Gal Oya of rainwater is used for flushing toilets and cooling the
district of Sri Lanka to this day. terminal buildings each month, about 33% of the total

Traditional stone spout in Patan Durbar Square

27
 Groundwater Recharge

water used, saving approximately USD 390,000 a This historical system was neglected after the introduction
year. In China’s Gansu Province, the annual precipitation of a piped water system to the Kathmandu Valley about
of 300 mm caters to 2 million people and supplies a century ago. The stone spouts have been further
supplementary irrigation for 236,400 hectares of land. affected by the recent uncontrolled exploitation of
In India, direct recharge of rainwater into the ground groundwater and the destruction of the former rainwater
(Mahnot et al. 2003) resulted in groundwater level collection ponds and recharge areas. A recent study
increases of up to 5 to 10 metres in just two years. found that about 400 stone spouts and several hundred
traditional dug wells in the Kathmandu Valley are now
Given such successes around the world, it is clear that
dry (NGOFUWS 2006).
rainwater harvesting has great potential to address some
of today’s water crises in many of the world’s urban areas.

Water demand and exploitation of groundwater

in the Kathmandu Valley
Kathmandu Valley has been suffering from a shortage
of drinking water since the 1980s, and the situation
is getting worse. The Valley’s current water demand
is about 280 million litres per day (MLD), but the
Kathmandu Valley Water Utility (KUKL) can only supply
about 86 MLD during the dry season and 105 MLD
during the wet season. To meet the supply-demand gap,
groundwater from both shallow and deep aquifers (more
than 200 metres) is being heavily extracted by small- to
large-scale users, including KUKL itself. This unregulated
extraction is depleting the aquifers; especially the
deep aquifers are not easily rechargeable due to the
Valley’s impermeable black clay (JICA 1990). The
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of traditional water supply system
overall groundwater extraction rate exceeds the natural
(CIUD/UN-HABITAT 2009)
recharge capacity by 6 times, resulting in a lowering of
the groundwater table by approximately 2.5 metres per
Rainwater harvesting potential
year (MPPW 2002). An immediate consequence of the
depletion of shallow groundwater aquifers is that dug Rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge into shallow
wells, hand pumps, and traditional stone spouts can no and deep aquifers offers a promising approach for
longer provide water as they once did. The groundwater reversing the trend of water resource exploitation and
quality is also a concern, chemical pollutants such as groundwater depletion. The average rainfall in the
arsenic, ammonia, and nitrate have been detected in Kathmandu Valley is around 1900 mm: more than twice
deep aquifers in many areas of the Valley. the world average. Approximately 1.2 billion cu.m/year
or 3353 million litres per day (MLD) of rainwater falls in
Historical water management the 640 sq.km Valley. This is about 12 times the present
water demand.
The historical cities in the Kathmandu Valley were
established over 2000 years ago. The Kirat regime The author has been collecting rainfall data at one
constructed rainfed ponds and springs. Later, the location in Kathmandu since January 2005. The
Lichhavi kings linked the ponds to stone spouts and average annual rainfall in this location over the last four
dug wells to provide water to the cities. These structures years was about 2500 mm, higher than the estimated
were expanded during the Malla regime, when valley average. About 80% of total rainfall on a building
elaborated networks of canals, ponds, and water can be collected easily (UN-HABITAT 2006), thus in
conduits were constructed (Figure 1). This water supply theory a building with a roof area of 100 sq.m could
and management system supplied adequate good collect up to 200 cu.m of rainwater per year, adequate
quality water to the urban population throughout the for a family of five with a water demand of about 170
year. Guthis (local community groups) were formed to cu.m per year. But it is not practical to store all this
maintain the overall supply system. Once a year, on the water, thus artificial groundwater recharge to replenish
Sithi Nakha festival, the guthis worked together to clean the aquifers is likely to be one of the best options for the
up the ponds, wells, and water canals.

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 Sustainable Mountain Development No. 56, ICIMOD, Winter 2009

optimal use of rainwater. If just 10% of the Kathmandu tubewells, and recharge pits to recharge shallow
Valley area was to be used for rainwater harvesting, aquifers. Pond restoration and channelling rainwater
128 million cu.m per/year could be recharged. To into the ponds also supports the recharging of shallow
implement such a plan, investigation is required to groundwater aquifers.
identify suitable recharge techniques and locations.
A recent groundwater recharge initiative of UN-Habitat
and the Centre for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD)
Artificial groundwater recharge in the
in a community in Patan resulted in increased flow from
Kathmandu Valley
the stone spouts and increased water levels in dug wells
A recent study indicates that the Valley’s sub-surface in the area. Rainwater from roofs and surface runoff
geology is favourable for assisted recharging of from houses, courtyards, and surrounding areas was
groundwater. Although several areas have high collected and channelled to a recharge pit (Figure 3).
groundwater infiltration rates because of favourable With the success of this initiative, UN-Habitat has agreed
geological formations, natural infiltration is generally to provide further financial and technical support for
ineffective due to the sealing of the ground’s surface groundwater recharge, in partnership with Lalitpur Sub-
(NGOFUWS/ UNHABITAT 2008). Several methods are Metropolitan City and Bottlers Nepal Limited, through a
currently available for assisted groundwater recharge. public-private community partnership model.
These include recharge trenches and permeable
pavements that promote the percolation of water through Time to start harvesting
soil strata at shallower depths; and recharge wells that
The water shortage in the Kathmandu Valley will not
allow rainwater to seep to greater depths. Figure 2
be solved in the near future. It is now time to tap
shows the potential areas for shallow aquifer recharge.
alternative sources of water. Rainwater harvesting has
The north and northeastern parts of Kathmandu have
been successfully practised in many parts of the world
great potential (Shrestha 2001) for deep aquifers. Past
and was a major source of water in the Kathmandu
studies and research recommend dug wells, shallow

Figure 2: Potential recharge zone in the Kathmandu Valley showing the infiltration rate during the monsoon season
(NGOFUWS/UN-HABITAT 2008)

Legend
Infiltration Rate
High (>0.6 cm/min)
Moderate (>0.06 & <0.6 cm/min)
Low (<0.06 cm/min)

Formation
Quaternary

Recent alluvial soil

Residual soil

Colluvial soil

Alluvial fan deposit

Plio-Pleistocene
Tokha Formation

Gokarna Formation

Chapagoan Formation

Kalimati Formation

Kobgaon Formation

Lukundol Formation

Basal boulder bed

Precambrian to Devonian
Godawari limestone

Chitlang Formation

Chandragiri Formation

Sopyang Formation

Tistung Formation

Markhu Formation

Kulekhani Formation

Sheopuri gneiss

General

Drainage
River and River Bank
Main Road
Sub Road
Spot Height (in metres)

Map source: based on engineering and environmental geological map published by DMG in cooperation with BGR
29
 Groundwater Recharge

Figure 3: Cross-section of recharge pit for shallow groundwater recharge in Lalitpur

Intake well Recharge well

Connection pipe Packed sand

Floating particles Packed gravel

Floating particles

Unfiltered
Unfiltered rainrain water
water

Packed boulders

Sand filter Sand filter Natural gravel

formation

AggregatesAggregates

Filtered water
Filtered water

Valley before the introduction of the piped supply NGOFUWS (2006) Traditional stone spouts enumeration,
system. The abundance of rainwater in the Valley means mapping and water quality. Unpublished report by NGO
Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation, Kathmandu, Nepal
that modern techniques of rainwater collection have
enormous potential to fulfil the unmet water demand. NGOFUWS/UN-HABITAT (2008) Feasibility of shallow
However, storing rainwater in large reserve tanks is not groundwater recharge from rainwater harvesting in Kathmandu.
Unpublished report by NGO Forum for Urban Water and
always practical or economic for individual households.
Sanitation, Kathmandu, Nepal
The introduction and wider implementation of artificial
groundwater recharge could be one of the best options Shrestha KB (2001) Concepts and methods of geostatistics
in agricultural sciences and forestry with an application in
for storing and conserving rainwater.
groundwater data. PhD thesis, Technical University of Vienna,
Austria
References UN-HABITAT (2006) Rainwater harvesting and utilisation, Blue
CIUD/UN-HABITAT (2009) Stone spouts network in drop series, Books 1 to 3. Nairobi: United Nations Human
Kathmandu Valley (in Nepali). Kathmandu: CIUD/UN- Development Programme, Water and Sanitation Infrastructure
HABITAT/LSMC Branch

JICA (1990) Groundwater management project in Kathmandu UN-HABITAT (2008) Water movement in Patan with reference
Valley, Final report, Executive summary, p 2. Kathmandu: JICA to traditional stone spouts in Nepal. Kathmandu: UN-HABITAT,

Mahnot, SC; Sharma, DC; Mishra , A; Singh, PK; Roy, KK Water for Asian Cities Programme Nepal
(2003) ‘Water harvesting management’ in Kaul V (ed) Practical
Guide Series 6, Jaipur: SDC Intercooperation Coordination
Unit

MPPW (2002) Optimising water use in Kathmandu Valley,

Inception report. Kathmandu: Ministry of Physical Planning
and Works

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