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Evaluating climatic and non-climatic stresses for declining surface water quality in Bagmati River of Nepal

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Abstract

Both climatic and non-climatic factors affect surface water quality. Similar to its effect across various sectors and areas, climate change has potential to affect surface water quality directly and indirectly. On the one hand, the rise in temperature enhances the microbial activity and decomposition of organic matter in the river system and changes in rainfall alter discharge and water flow in the river ultimately affecting pollution dilution level. On the other hand, the disposal of organic waste and channelizing municipal sewage into the rivers seriously worsen water quality. This study attempts to relate hydro-climatology, water quality, and impact of climatic and non-climatic stresses in affecting river water quality in the upper Bagmati basin in Central Nepal. The results showed that the key water quality indicators such as dissolved oxygen and chemical oxygen demand are getting worse in recent years. No significant relationships were found between the key water quality indicators and changes in key climatic variables. However, the water quality indicators correlated with the increase in urban population and per capita waste production in the city. The findings of this study indicate that dealing with non-climatic stressors such as reducing direct disposal of sewerage and other wastes in the river rather than emphasizing on working with the effects from climate change would largely help to improve water quality in the river flowing from highly populated urban areas.

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Acknowledgements

This work is a part of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/START PROVIA fellowship provided to the first author. The Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD) at Tongji University is acknowledged for hosting the first author for carrying out this research paper under the fellowship program. Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) and High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of Bagmati Civilization (HPCIDBC) provided monitoring data for the climate, hydrology, and water quality. Mohan B Chand, PhD student at the Hokkaido University in Japan, reviewed the manuscript and provided inputs. All the views are of authors and not attributed to the institutions listed above.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Small Earth Nepal, PO Box#20533, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Jeeban Panthi & Piyush Dahal

  2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, UNEP TONGJI Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Fengting Li, Hongtao Wang & Martin Kabenge

  3. International Centre for Applied Climate Science (ICACS) and Institute of Agriculture and Environment, University of Southern Queensland, Queensland, 4350, Australia

    Suman Aryal

  4. Kathmandu University, Kavre, Dhulikhel, Nepal

    Sheila Ghimire

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  1. Jeeban Panthi
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  2. Fengting Li
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  3. Hongtao Wang
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Correspondence to Jeeban Panthi.

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Panthi, J., Li, F., Wang, H. et al. Evaluating climatic and non-climatic stresses for declining surface water quality in Bagmati River of Nepal. Environ Monit Assess 189, 292 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6000-9

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