Transcript Document
Nepal’s Strategy for Harnessing Water Resources Sanjaya Dhungel Senior Divisional Engineer Water and Energy Commission Secretariat 1 - - CONTENT Background Water Resources Strategy Implementation Process Institutional Arrangement Current Activities 2 Background - Water Resources Development based on Sectoral approach. - Lack of effective coordination - Duplication, excess resources allocation as well as utilization - Contribution compared with investment not as anticipated. 3 Water Resources Strategy (WRS) - Approved in 2002 - Integrated Water Resources Management Principle - Goal “Living Condition of Nepali People significantly improved in a sustainable manner” - 25 Years (2002 – 2027) 4 Ten Strategic Outputs Security - Water induced disaster - Watershed and aquatic ecosystem Uses - Water supply sanitation & hygiene - Irrigation - Hydropower - Economic use of water, Industries, Tourism, Fisheries 5 Mechanism - Water related Information System - Legal Framework - Regional Cooperation - Institutional Mechanism 6 Mechanism - Water related Information System - Legal Framework - Regional Cooperation - Institutional Mechanism 7 Some of the Activities are: Water induced disaster - Prepare and Implement disaster management policy and plan - Conduct Risk/vulnerability mapping and zoning - Strengthen disaster networking and information system - Carry out community awareness - Implement disaster reduction/mitigation measures 8 Watershed and aquatic ecosystem - Improve Environmental database system - Map important, critical and priority watersheds and aquatic ecosystems - Develop water and wastewater quality standards and regulations - Implement water conservation education program - Implement watershed and aquatic ecosystem protection, rehabilitation and management program - Utilize Strategic Environmental Assessment - Ensure compliance with environmental regulations 9 Water supply sanitation & hygiene - Enhance institutional capacity for coordination, planning, implementation and monitoring - Enact and enforce standards and regulatory mechanisms for cost-sharing - Implement and enforce equitable mechanisms for cost-sharing - Strengthen implementation capacity for new rural water supply and sanitation schemes - Improve management of urban water supply and sewerage systems - Adopt effective conservation and protection measures 10 Irrigation - Integrate irrigation planning and management with agricultural development - Improve management of existing irrigation systems - Improve planning and implementation of new irrigation systems - Develop year-round irrigation in support of intensification and diversification of agriculture - Strengthen local capacity of planning, implementation and management of irrigation - Encourage consolidation of land to promote irrigation/agriculture efficiency - Improve groundwater devlopment and management 11 Hydropower - Develop cost-effective small and medium hydropower to meet domestic demand at an affordable price - Encourage private sector investment in hydropower development and power distribution - Provide increased government support to accelerate rural electrification - Integrate improved social and environmental mechanisms into hydropower development - Encourage power-based industries and transportation systems to create markets for large hydropower generation plants - Facilitate the flow of funds from the domestic financial sector to the hydropower sub-sector - Strengthen institutional and physical infrastructure for power export - Promote hydropower research and development - Restructure the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) 12 Economic use of water, Industries, Tourism and Fisheries - Promote water-based cultural, recreational and eco-tourism activities - Support bottling of spring water for export and domestic uses - Develop productive uses of floodplains - Investigate navigation opportunities - Enhance fisheries and aquaculture - Promote efficient industrial use of water - Ensure compliance with environmental regulations 13 Water related Information System - Improve information collection and dissemination mechanisms - Extend and upgrade the hydro-meteorological network - Develop a snow/glacier hydrology information system - Establish basin-wide water accounting systems - Integrate the water resource database with environmental database 14 Legal Framework - Prepare an Integrated national Water Resources Policy and amend the Water Resources Act - Harmonize and amend conflicting laws and regulations - Incorporate legislative provisions for groundwater use and management - Improve the enforcement of acts and regulations - Establish equitable and functional water rights 15 Regional Cooperation - Appraise and understand the water-related needs of neighboring counties - Pursue confidence-building measures with neighboring countries - Implement mutually beneficial development programs 16 Institutional Mechanism - Enhance planning and implementation capacities of all stakeholder institutions - Strengthen WECS as a central planning/coordination agency - Reorganize and strengthen government institutions - Promote private sector participation 17 Implementation Process: National Water Plan 2005, defines the implementation process Mechanism adopted are: Integration Coordination Decentralization Equity Good Governance 18 Institutional Arrangement: - WEC to activate as central planning and coordinating agency and provide techno-economic clearance in water resources projects - Regulatory board: domestic water supply, groundwater, hydropower - Restructure organization Unbundle NEA Establishment of autonomous Rural Electrification Agency Establishment RBOs Restructure water sector related agencies 19 Current Activities: - Preparation of Integrated Water Resources Policy, Acts and Regulations. - Establishment of an Apex Monitoring Committee. - Development of criteria and guidelines for techno economic clearance. - Establishment of river basin office and formation of sub basin committee. - Preparation of procedural guidelines for formal access of water - Transboundary water management. 20 Thank You 21