IMPACT OF URBANIZATION ON GROUNDWATER RECHARGE

AND DISHARGE (IN REFERENCE TO KATHMANDU VALLEY)

Samiksha Rimal
B.Sc. 4th Year (Geology), Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University
Ghantaghar, Kathmandu, Nepal
E-mail: rimalsamiksha8@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: The haphazard and unplanned urbanization had led to pollution of surface
water as well as some change in recharge and discharge in the groundwater due to which
there is water scarcity in some small cities in Kathmandu valley. A thorough desk study was
conducted to analyze the published groundwater recharge rate and extraction rate data. The
result shows that there is imbalance between groundwater recharge and extraction rate that
caused depletion of groundwater level. Thus the problem of groundwater level depletion can
be recovered by possible measures like rainwater harvesting, sustainable use of groundwater
etc.
Key words: urbanization, groundwater, recharge, extraction

1. BACKGROUND

Groundwater has become a major natural resource in contributing the water supply in the
Kathmandu valley. Groundwater is the type of water that exists in the pore spaces and
fractures in the rocks and sediments beneath the earth surface. The water beneath the earth’s
surface is possible due to recharge and discharge process. Recharge process occurs when
water infiltrate below the surface in natural or artificial ways whereas discharge process
occurs when water emerge from underground which occurs as a flow into the surface bodies
as streams, lakes and ocean.

In today’s century, the recharge and discharge process have been adversely affected by rapid
urbanization. Urbanization refers to the process of growth in the proportion of population
living in urban areas. Urbanization causes radical changes in the frequency and rate of
groundwater recharge, with a general tendency for volume to increase significantly and for
quality to deteriorate substantially (Foster, 1990). The pace of urbanization have been
increasing rapidly in whole world due to increasing population. Increase in population
increase the demand for water supply in urban areas and the major resources for water supply
are surface water and groundwater. Urbanization has profound impacts on the hydrological
recharge like changes in groundwater recharge, modification to existing recharge mechanism
and introduction of new one as well as on hydrological discharge.

Kathmandu valley is most urbanized area in the country. The built up area is 3330 ha in 1955
to 16,472 ha in 2000(Pradhan and Parera 2000). Over last decade, the population increased
by 61.23% (CBS, 2012) and so increased the settlement and industrialization in Kathmandu
valley that leads to haphazard and unplanned urbanization. The haphazard and unplanned
urbanization had led to pollution of surface water as well as some change in recharge and
discharge in the groundwater due to which there is water scarcity in some small cities in
Kathmandu valley. The main aim of this article is to point out the major reason for change in
water recharge and discharge process in groundwater and to aware readers about the impact
of the urbanization in groundwater recharge and discharge with available possible solution
for increasing the recharge in groundwater. Inorder to achieve this aim, this research have
following objectives:
 1) To know about the impact of urbanization on groundwater recharge and discharge
2) To know the recharge and discharge process in Kathmandu valley
3) To find out possible solution for minimizing harmful chemical recharge in
groundwater.
Two research questions are included in this article:
a) What causes the water scarcity in Kathmandu valley?
b) How can the groundwater contamination and depletion can be recovered?

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

The methodology used in this article is by collecting data and information of previous
researches from different sources through different books and through different websites.

3. RESULT

Rapid urbanization has already consumed much of the recharge areas in the Kathmandu
valley. Because of its unique geologic construction, the recharge area is limited and
groundwater movement is also slow in this basin. Diminishing capture zone and increased
human activities in the recharge zone have implications on the groundwater recharge system.
In urban areas like Kathmandu valley, the groundwater re-charge commonly increases
because of: a) leakage from water distributions systems, sewer lines, detention ponds, and
storm drains; b) over irrigation of lawns, gardens, and parks; c) artificial recharge; d) reduced
evapotranspiration and e) infiltration through “impervious” cover. This coupled with
pumping of shallow groundwater, controls water table fluctuations. The impacts of
urbanization on groundwater systems are predictable and should be considered in urban
planning from geotechnical, environmental, and water resources perspectives.

A major river that drains most parts of the Kathmandu valley which highly influence the
groundwater is Bagmati River. But nowadays the Bagmati River have been polluted very
badly. The Bagmati River contains large amounts of untreated sewage, and large levels of
pollution of the river exist due increasing urbanization. Many residents in Kathmandu empty
personal garbage and waste into the river. Since Bagmati River is the major river that drains
Kathmandu valley, it can be analyzed that the groundwater is also being polluted. The
problems related to groundwater range from contamination from sewage line, septic failures,
open pit latrines (Jha et al. 1997), leaching from landfill sites, and direct disposal of domestic
and industrial wastes to the surface water( Khadka, 1992, Karn and Harada, 2001).

Regarding the groundwater resource estimates, they are still sparse for all regions of Nepal.
Recharge to the valley’s main aquifer has been variously reported to be 15 million m 3/year
(i.e 165mm/year) (Binnie & Partners, 1986) to less than 5 million m 3/year (I,e 55mm/year)
(Gautam & Rao, 1991). But due to increasing population the demand for water supply has
increased and so increases the groundwater extraction rate. Groundwater extraction rate have
been increasing due to increasing different water systems in households of Kathmandu valley
which is shown in Figure 1. 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 extraction rate is reported to be
20 million m3/year. The overall groundwater extraction rate exceeds the natural recharge
capacity by 6 times, resulting in a lowering of the groundwater table by approximately 2.5
meters per year (MPPW 2002).

Figure 1: Groundwater extraction rate in the Kathmandu Valley for different systems (prepared with data from
HMG (2004))

In order to balance the groundwater recharge and groundwater extraction, some possible
measures must be carried out by the government as well as local residents. Conjunctive
management of surface water and ground water resources like indirect recharge, rainwater
harvestation and sustainable use of surface as well as groundwater resources must be done in
order to tackle groundwater depletion. Some artificial measures like rooftop water harvesting
and injection, ponds, rajkulos, using agricultural fields to promote recharge, injecting surface
water into deep wells etc. which are also methods of artificial recharge must be done for
increasing the groundwater level and meeting the demand of groundwater extraction.

4. DISCUSSION
Groundwater is very important natural resources that have been exploited by human beings
for drinking and non-drinking purposes. Due increasing urbanization in Kathmandu valley,
many cities in Kathmandu valley have been experiencing water scarcity due to some
hydrogeological condition as well as due to unplanned and haphazard urbanization. The
problem of increasing groundwater extraction rate and decreasing groundwater level is also
discussed by Dr. Suresh D Shrestha (2012) and the possible solutions like rainwater
harvesting, direct and indirect recharge etc. is also discussed by Dr. Roshan Raj Shrestha
(2009). Since the impact of urbanization on groundwater can be minimized or can be
managed sustainably with the help of many groundwater and sustainable development
experts, but the implementation of plans regarding effective groundwater management hadn’t
been carried out efficiently or the progress on groundwater management must have been
slowed down. Therefore by publishing such many articles related to groundwater and
groundwater problem in national newspaper or through online blogs and organizing different
programs such as talk programs, awareness programs etc., public must get aware about the
situation of groundwater in urban areas such as Kathmandu valley which may give pressure
as well as encourage government based or non-government based company/organization to
implement the sustainable groundwater management.

5. CONCLUSION
A thorough desk study was conducted to analyze the published groundwater recharge rate
and extraction rate data. The results shows that the recharge process have been altered or
changed as well as the groundwater have been polluted due to unplanned and haphazard
urbanization. This research has succeeded in pointing out the major impact of urbanization on
groundwater which is groundwater level depletion due to imbalance between groundwater
recharge and extraction rate. Thus the problem of groundwater level depletion can be
recovered by possible measures like rainwater harvesting, sustainable use of groundwater but
only if these measures are implemented efficiently. The only drawback of this research is, it
is only based on data published by other researchers and authors . So to reveal exactly how
urbanization have affected the groundwater, further field study of the groundwater recharge
and extraction rate in every city of Kathmandu valley is recommended.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my appreciation to our respected professor Dr. Tara Nidhi Bhattarai
for his valuable guidance and support to write. I would also like to thank friends from
editorial boards for their valuable comments and support. I would like to thank my all other
teachers and my colleagues for the support and hope to get it again and again.

REFERENCES
CBS, 2001: Statistical Pocket Book-Nepal, His Majesty’s Government, National Planning
Commission Secretariat, Central Bureau of Statistics, Kathmandu.

Dixit A., Upadhyaya M. (2005). Augmenting groundwater in Kathmandu Valley: challenges

and possibilities. Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Foster, S. S. D. (1990) Impacts of urbanization on groundwater. In: Hydrological Processes

and Water Management in Urban Areas (ed. by H. Massing, J. Packman & F. Zuidema)
(Papers from UrbanWater'88 Symposium at Duisburg, Germany, April 1988), 187-207.
IAHS Publ. no. 198.
Gautam R., Rao G.K. (1991). Groundwater resource evaluation of the Kathmandu Valley.
Journal of Nepal Geological Society 7, 39-48.

MPPW (2002) Optimising water use in Kathmandu Valley, Inception report. Kathmandu:
Ministry of Physical Planning and Works.

HMG (2004). Optimizing water use in Kathmandu Valley (ADB-TA) Project. Final Report.
Ministry of Physical Planning and Works. Kathmandu, Nepal.

Jha M.G., Khadka M.S., Shrestha M.P., Regmi S., Bauld J., Jacobson G. (1997). The
assessment of groundwater pollution in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. A report on Joint
Nepal-Australia Project 1995–96, Australian Geological Survey Organization, Canberra, pp
64

JICA (1990). Groundwater management project in Kathmandu Valley, Final Report

Supporting Report, pg. B1

Karn S.K., Harada H. (2001). Surface water pollution in three urban territories of Nepal,
India, and Bangladesh. Environmental Management 28(4), 483–496.

Shrestha R.R., (2009) Sustainable Mountain Development No. 56, ICIMOD, Winter

Shrestha S., Pradhananga D., Pandey V.P. (Eds.) (2012). Kathmandu Valley Groundwater
Outlook. Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), The Small Earth Nepal (SEN), Center of
Research for Environment Energy and Water (CREEW), International Research Center for
River Basin Environment-University of Yamanashi (ICRE-UY), Kathmandu, Nepal.