Abstract
AbstractThe study, conducted in western hilly areas of Nepal, inventoried and mapped over 4,222 springs from five different watersheds. The study showed that more than 50% of the spring sources were found under natural conditions, i.e., open spring whereas 15% of them were of pond type. Similarly, the other 15% spring was recorded as a concrete structure or tank while 1% was determined to be a well. Attempts were made to identify if a change in water discharge from springs relates to rainfall patterns. The inter-annual variability analysis shows a significant fluctuation suggesting variation in water discharge across spring sources. The lowest amount of yearly rainfall received in the river basin is governed by decreasing water flow from the springs in the upper and mid-hills of Nepal. Besides, the intra-annual variation (i.e., seasonal and concentrative nature of rainfall only during monsoon) leads to shortage of drinking water and other domestic purposes (e.g., cooking, cleaning) during the dry months of the year. This study, based on the estimation of discharge flow in these springs, revealed that about 70% were decreasing and, in particular, the flow over the recent ten years decreased significantly.
Highlights
Freshwater resources are unevenly distributed on Earth (Yano et al, 2015) and contribute only ∼2.5% of the Earth’s total water volume (Gleick, 1993; Shiklomanov, 1999; Priyantha Ranjan et al, 2006)
A total number of 4,222 springs were spotted across five watersheds
A total number of 1,960 springs was mapped in the Middle Karnali watershed (Figure 2)
Summary
Freshwater resources are unevenly distributed on Earth (Yano et al, 2015) and contribute only ∼2.5% of the Earth’s total water volume (Gleick, 1993; Shiklomanov, 1999; Priyantha Ranjan et al, 2006). Developed nations like the USA consume eight times more for human consumption and four times higher per year for food production (Kibona et al, 2009; Cassardo & Jones, 2011; Du Plessis, 2017) This fact clearly shows that water resources are distributed and utilized unevenly across the world, and most of the total freshwater is highly concentrated in specific regions, including North America, whereas regions like the Middle East and North Africa face a water deficit (Cassardo & Jones, 2011). In terms of utilization of the water resource, only 15 billion m3 water has been utilized for social and economic development in Nepal; the remaining water drains over the large Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and drains down to the Bay of Bengal (WECS, 2011)
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