Kathmandu Participatory River Monitoring - A Model for South Asia Methodology and Lessons Learned

Only twenty years ago people were swimming in Bagmati River. Water even met drinking water quality. Increased urbanisation has worsened the situation drastically. All domestic and industrial waste water is discharged directly into rivers. Due to lack of resources and expertise, an adequate and sustainable monitoring system for the rivers could not be set up and permanently operated. Adelphi Research – Germany, ECCA – Nepal and ITC – The Netherlands therefore developed the project Kathmandu Participatory River Monitoring (KAPRIMO) that took into account the various reasons for the insufficient operation of former monitoring systems. As a pilot step, KAPRIMO strengthened the river monitoring system in Kathmandu-Lalitpur, making it more reliable and sustainable.

The growing population and the high density along the banks of the rivers in the urban agglomeration of Kathmandu and Lalitpur as well as a lack of proper sewage and waste management capacity has led to a serious deterioration of the ecosystem within the Bagmati River Basin. The decline of river quality has direct detrimental impacts on the health of water user groups in the city and downstream.