
By Jibesh KC, Santosh Nepal, Ram Devi Tachamo Shah, and Nishadi Eriyagama
Nepal possesses immense hydropower potential, but enthusiasm surrounding its development often overlooks the environmental risks and socioeconomic trade-offs that come with the large-scale infrastructure development. While the economy has greatly benefitted from the completed hydropower projects, and many more are planned, it is crucial to balance these developments with competing needs including ecological water requirements.
The diversion of water to Nepal’s power plants reduces downstream flow in the dewatered zone, negatively affecting riverine ecosystems, fish migration, and downstream local communities that depend on the rivers. A compromise is thus necessary between national energy demands, environmental health, and the needs of local communities – which often includes the social and religious value of river systems. The downstream repercussions of upstream hydrological alterations must be considered when developing policies and planning regulations that determine the allocation of water to different needs.
New tools for e-flow measurements
Calculating the environmental flow, or e-flow, requirements of a river is a starting point. E-flows take into account the flows needed to support ecological health and the needs of downstream communities including their social and cultural practices. However, conventional methods to estimate e-flows can be very costly and time consuming. For countries like Nepal, therefore, the recent advances made through the CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) could prove invaluable. New e-flow estimation tools can provide the basis for rapid and cost-effective initial estimates of e-flows, which can be further refined by users through the input of data specific to each location.
In Nepal, efforts are already underway to contextualize and scale up riverine management based on e-flows, alongside the essential task of building capacity among practitioners and policymakers. Last year, a workshop organized by NEXUS Gains focused on designing a package for e-flow estimation appropriate to Nepal’s hydropower sector. Two more IWMI-led workshops in Kathmandu this year, from 29 to 30 August, brought together a total of 60 participants including 19 women representing governments, public, private, and civil-society stakeholders to discuss the importance of e-flow allocations for maintaining river ecosystems and to gain exposure to e-flow assessment methods.
The first workshop focused on building awareness among mid-career professionals and stakeholders of practical e-flow assessment tools developed by IWMI. The second workshop, the Science–Policy Dialogue on Environmental Flow Allocations, brought key stakeholders together to discuss the importance and challenges of maintaining e-flow allocations in the face of hydropower expansion.
A need to overhaul water resources policy
Nepal’s Hydropower Development Policy (2001) stipulates that all hydropower projects release downstream at least 10 percent of the minimum monthly average discharge of the river, or the quantum suggested by an environmental impact assessment study report. This one-size-fits-all rule is not followed in practice. As observed during the recent workshops, studies suggest that many hydropower projects in Nepal openly flout the 10 percent rule, largely due to a lack of clear guidelines and monitoring systems. A new working guideline related to providing land for infrastructure development in protected areas (2023) has been published by the Ministry of Forest and Environment which allocates 10 to 35 percent of mean monthly flow during the dry season period based on hydropower generation capacity and scale of hydropower construction within the protected areas. However, critics argue that the new guideline allows large-scale hydropower development inside the protected areas with fewer environmental safeguards.
Experts pointed out that instead of a flat percentage of mean monthly flow, a context-specific, river basin–scale approach to hydropower and e‑flow planning is required. Indeed, the country now has a fresh opportunity to introduce new, river-specific e-flow rules and strictly enforce them: the Water Resources Bill 2024, drafted as an update of the Water Resources Act 1992, is currently being debated in Parliament.
A basin-wide approach through collaboration
The Science–Policy Dialogue centered on the need for a basin-level approach to hydropower development, ensuring that environmental sustainability is considered alongside energy production. Panelists stressed the importance of revising policies through a holistic, basin-wide approach to ensure sustainable water resource management in the long term. The workshops concluded with a consensus on the need for stronger policy frameworks and better coordination among stakeholders. Participants also called for improved monitoring and compliance mechanisms to ensure that e-flows are effectively implemented in hydropower projects.
As Nepal continues to expand its hydropower capacity, these workshops underscore the critical importance of e-flows in safeguarding the country’s river ecosystems. By prioritizing e-flows and enhancing collaboration among stakeholders, Nepal can ensure that its ambitious energy goals are aligned with the maintenance of ecological health and community needs in the future.
Jibesh KC is Research Officer – Resilient Water Management and Livelihoods at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI); Santosh Nepal is Researcher – Water Resources and Climate Change at IWMI; Ram Devi Tachamo Shah is Assistant Professor at the Department of Life Sciences, Kathmandu University; Nishadi Eriyagama is Regional Researcher – Water Resources Engineer, and Deputy Country Manager – Sri Lanka, IWMI.
This work was carried out under the CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains, which is grateful for the support of CGIAR Trust Fund contributors: www.cgiar.org/funders
Source : CGIAR