Dhanusha Lake Visit Report

A Field Visit Report On National Lakes Strategic Plan Preparation of Dhanusha District Submitted to Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Submitted by Mr. Deb Kumar Shah Technical Officer, Faculty of Technology Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST)  October, 2009

Table of contents

Table of contents. 2

Executive summary. 3

1. Background: 4

1.1 Lakes/Ponds of Nepal: 4

1.2 Dhanusha District Profile: 5

1.3 Ponds/lakes in Dhanusha District: 5

1.3.1 Janakpurdham for religious and tourist destination: 6

2. Objectives: 7

3. Methodology: 8

3.1 Field Visit: 8

3.2 Focus Group Discussion: 8

3.2.1 Outcome of focus group discussion: 10

3.3 District Level Consultative Meeting: 10

4. Suggestions and recommendations from district level consultative meeting: 12

5. Conclusions and recommendations: 12

6. Refrences: 13

Appendix: 14

 

Executive summary

The government of Nepal has planned to prepare a National Lakes Conservation and Development Strategy with an overall objective of refining the mandates and obligations of National Lakes Conservation Development Committee (NLCDC) within the jurisdiction of the national legislations and scope of the international conventions. In this connection, National Lake Conservation Development Committee (NLCDC) has given high priority for the conservation and promotion of lakes. With this purpose of strategic planning, the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) have taken their lead role to prepare theme papers in the respective field, whereas NAST is playing a key role in the field of biodiversity and natural resources conservation. To fulfill the objective, the team has visited the some historical ponds/lakes of Dhanusha district of Nepal.

The field visit for Dhanusha district was done within the period of Ashoj 02-08, 2066 by the team composing Mr. Deb Kumar Shah, Technical Officer, Faculty of Technology, NAST with local person Mr. Ram Bilash Shah for Janakpurdham Municipality and Mr. Shambhu Prasad Shah for out of Janakpurdham Municipality. 

The team visited Greater Janakpur Area Development Council (GJADC) to collect information about the ponds and met the related person. The team visited the historical ponds/lakes and religious temples of Janakpur Municipality and found the status of them. The team also visited DHUSHADHAM, PARSURAMTALAU and SATHAUKHAIR places where religious and historical ponds/lakes are there. The information was collected about status of lakes from local person in focus group discussion at DHUSHADHAM, PARSURAMTALAU and SATHAUKHAIR.

The consultative meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mr. Mohan Bahadur GC, acting chief district officer, Dhanusha on 2066-06-06 (Tuesday) at 2PM. Fifteen personnel from different organization were present in the meeting. Meeting discussed about the status and conservation of ponds/lakes of Dhanusha District. The suggestions and recommendations were collected from the meeting.   

Dhanusha district is very famous for historical ponds and religious place. There are more than two hundred ponds in Dhanusha districts and about 75 ponds are only in Janakpurdham municipality. Janakpurdham is a religious and historical town in Nepal and is popular as holy Janki temple. Janakpurdham is known as the city of temple and ponds. It teems especially with ponds and other water structures.

The historical ponds and famous Janki temple characterize the city image. Janakpurdham is one of the major city for tourism industry in Nepal. There is great scope for tourism destination for international as well as national tourists. Each year, there are six major festivals, which attracts between 4 to 5 lakhs pilgrimage in a single day, which contributes in increment of income for local people. 

Janakpurdham is a religious and historical town in Nepal, growing at rapid pace without appropriate plan for future. Due to political instability, the management system of conservation of lakes/ponds are frequently changing which acts as an obstacle for the improvement of work and policy formulation as well as real use of budget. There is need of awareness program for local people to understand the priceless value of ponds/lakes.

1. Background:

Nepal is set in the arc of Himalaya extending between 26’22’- 30’27’N in latitude and 80’4’- 88’12’E in longitude covering a total geographical area of approximately 1, 47,181 sq. km which is 0.1% of the earths’ surface. Altitudinal variation ranges from 60m at the Terai region to 8848m on the summit of Mount Everest.

Nepal ranks second in term of potential water resources and contain 2.27% of the world’s water resources (Bhandari 1998). Four major rivers Koshi, Gandaki, Karnali and Mahakali from east to west are perennial snow fed river originating from the high Himalayas with high discharge fluctuation between dry and wet seasons. Mechi, Bagmati, Kamala, Tinau, Rapti are other important rivers originating either from middle mountains or Siwaliks.

The government of Nepal has planned to prepare a National Lakes Conservation and Development Strategy with an overall objective of refining the mandates and obligations of National Lakes Conservation Development Committee (NLCDC) within the jurisdiction of the national legislations and scope of the international conventions. The Strategic Plan will result in a five-year work plan with long-term visions within the framework of the country's national development plan and the Nepal Biodiversity Strategy as well as the visions and programs of the Nepal Tourism Year 2011.

In this connection, National Lake Conservation Development Committee (NLCDC) has given high priority for the conservation and promotion of lakes. Basically, its focus area is to identify the challenges and opportunities of lake with the purpose of tourists' flow especially foreign tourists in lake area. And with this purpose of strategic planning, the three partners like (International Union for Conservation of Nature) IUCN Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) and Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) have taken their lead roles to prepare theme papers in the respective field whereas NAST is playing a key role in the field of biodiversity and natural resources conservation. To fulfill the objective, we have visited the some historical ponds/lakes of Dhanusha district of Nepal.

1.1 Lakes/Ponds of Nepal:  

Lakes are water bodies having area greater than 8 ha and a depth of the water body more than 2m. These are natural water bodies and are of both permanent and temporary types and water is generally static in nature. Some examples of lakes include Phewa, Rupa and Begnas lakes in Pokhara, Ghodaghodi Tal in Kailali, Taudaha in Kathmandu valley etc. There are around 78 numbers of lakes found in the Terai region which represents around 48% of the total area covered by the wetlands in Terai (Source: Natural wetland Database, IUCN Nepal).

Based on the nutrient content, lakes are classified into three types, they are eutrophic, mesotrophic and oligotrophic. This classification is primarily based on the topographical and climatic conditions. For example, lakes of high and or medium Himalaya generally fall in oligotrophic type while the lakes and ponds from Terai region are categorized as eutrophic lakes. Other lakes from mid hills and valley such as Phewa and Rupa are defined as Mesotrophic Lake. Some lakes located in highly populated areas have been directly feed by sewers and are extremely high nutrient contents and thus these types are separately classified as hypertrophic lakes which are common in Kathmandu valley.

Moreover, it is estimated that that are altogether 2500 lakes in Nepal and only 1800 have been reported. So, NAST in association with NLCDC has initiated a work of listing out the total number of lakes from 20 districts of Nepal.   

1.2 Dhanusha District Profile:

Dhanusha is a Terai (low flat land) district of southeast Nepal of Janakpur zone. Its height ranges from 61 to 610m from the sea level. The district is named from the “DHANUSH” (bow) broken by RAM to marry SITA, mentioned in RAMAYAN. The district has the area of 1180 sq. km and has 102 VDCs (name attached in appendix) with one municipality. Janakpurdham is headquarter of this district. The district has its adjoining neighboring districts like Siraha in east, Sarlahi in West, Sindhuli in North and Bihar state of India in South. The district is densely populated with a wide range of ethnic groups. Some people are well established but migrants and indigenous people are poor and lack access to basic resources.

1.3 Ponds/lakes in Dhanusha District:

Dhanusha district is very famous for historical ponds and religious place. There are more than two hundred ponds in Dhanusha districts and about 75 ponds are only in Janakpurdham municipality. These pond are categorizes in three parts as public ponds, personal ponds and going to be vanished ponds in Janakpurdham municipality. There are 49 ponds which are categorizes as public ponds, 21 ponds as public ponds and 5 ponds as going to be vanished ponds in Janakpurdham municipality (Commission Report 2062). The name of these ponds/lakes is attached in appendix.

   

Figure 1.3(a): Dhanush Sagar                           Figure1.3 (b): Ganga Sagar

Janakpurdham is known as the city of temple and ponds. It teems especially with ponds and other water structures. These are called sars, sagars or kunds. There is a tradition of dipping in these holy ponds on special occasions per lunar calendar. The famous among these are Ganga Sagar, Dhanush Sagar, Ram Sagar, Ratna Sagar, Vihar Kund, Agni Kund, Gyan Kup, Argaja (Angrag), Dasharath Sar, Gordhoi. Ganga Sagar is a holiest and greatest of them.

The pond plays significant roles for its religious cultural, industrial, economic and agricultural development in most of the developed and industrialized countries; they use their ponds for economic development through recreational uses. The main river of this district is Kamala which lies in the eastern part of this district.

 

Figure1.3(c): Dhanush Sagar                             Figure1.3 (d): Argaja sagar

1.3.1 Janakpurdham for religious and tourist destination: 

Dhanushadham is in Dhanusha district and Janakpur zone. Janakpur is approximately 390 kilometers and 10 hour drive from Kathmandu. Janakpurdham is a religious and historical town in Nepal and is popular as holy Janki temple. It is known as the city of temple and ponds. It teems especially with ponds and other water structures. The historical ponds and famous Janki temple characterize the city image. Each year, there are six major festivals, which attracts between 4 to 5 lakhs pilgrimage in a single day, which contributes in increment of income for local people.  

  

Figure1.3.1 (a): Janki Temple                Figure1.3.1 (b): Janki Temple

The dhanushadham is another holy place, where huge number of tourists from India as well as internal tourists from Nepal, are coming there. There is a temple where a part of broken DHANUSH (bow) by Ram exists (As mentioned in RAMAYAN). So, tourists are coming to observe the broken part of DHNUSH (bow) in this temple in Dhanushadham.  

Another attraction of this district is Janakpur Railway, which only one railway service in Nepal. This railway provides service from Janakpur to Jainagar (city of India). This railway carries goods for importing and exporting from India to Nepal and vice versa. Lot of people comes to see the railway from different part of Nepal and travels for Janakpur to Jainagar. It may be attraction for internal tourism of the country and this increases the income for local people.

  

Figure1.3.1 (c): Board at dhanushadham          Figure1.3.1 (d): Ramananda Chowk

 

Figure1.3.1 (e): Celebration in Dashain             Figure1.3.1 (f): Celebration in Dashain

 

Figure1.3.1 (g): Boating in Dhanush Sagar       Figure1.3.1 (h): Temple nearby ram Sagar

2. Objectives:

The objectives of the field visit are

• To list out the number and status of ponds/lakes in Dhanusha district.
• To collect the information and other relevant matters regarding the lakes of Dhanusha district.
• To conduct the consultative meeting on lakes with the stakeholders and collect the information and suggestions regarding conservation of lakes.

3. Methodology:

3.1 Field Visit:

The field visit for Dhanusha district was done within the period of Ashoj 02-08, 2066 by the team composing Mr. Deb Kumar Shah, Technical Officer, Faculty of Technology, NAST with local person Mr. Ram Bilash Shah for Janakpurdham Municipality and Mr. Shambhu Prasad Shah for out of Janakpurdham Municipality.

3.2 Focus Group Discussion:

Focused group discussion and individual interactions were held during the field/site visit and data were collected from the interaction. Focused group discussions were carried out on the sites of the pond/lake, in the premises of DHUSHADHAM, PARSURAMTALAU and SATHAUKHAIR.

 

Figure3.2 (a): Pond of dhanushadham               Figure3.2 (b): Conversation with local people

On the second day, we met Mr. Ram Dayal Shah of DHUSHADHAM Village Development Committee. From him we got the information about historical DHANUSHADHAM pond. According to him huge numbers of tourists are coming form India as well as other district of Nepal. He Said, "So many tourists are visiting this holy place from India and they use to bath in this pond but due to dirty water they hesitate to bath." He further added that tourists cannot stay there due to unavailability of guest house.

  

Figure3.2 (c): Priest of dhanushadham temple  Figure3.2 (d): Temple at dhanushadham

Similarly, the MAHANTHA (Priest) of this temple also briefed about the historical place and pond. He also mentioned that there is lack of proper management of temple and premises of pond.

 

Figure3.2 (e): Prasuram talau                              Figure3.2 (f): Prasuram talau

On next day, we visited PARSURAMTALAU which has historical story that Prasuram (Mentioned in Ramayan) used to bath in this pond. So it is named as PARSURAMTALAU. The local people are used to fishery and earn income for development of the VDC. In this pond, there is production of MAKHAN (a kind of spice) and leafs for providing food in BHOJ. The MAKHAN is very precious spice as well as used in religious events. Season wise, water hyacinth also producing, which are useless there. There is extra expenditure for removing the water hyacinth from this pond. Due to lack of proper management of this historical pond, infrastructures are going to be destroyed.

 

Figure3.2 (g): Pond at Sathaukhair                      Figure3.2 (h): Conversation with local people

On the next day, we visited Sathaukhair pond and met Mr. Sital Yadav of Satosar Village Development Committee. He briefed about the Sathaukhair pond which has also great ancient story about that. There are seven ponds around the main big one, so it is named as Sathaukhair. According to him, there is a fable about this pond that the monsters dug these seven ponds in one night by their teeth. He further added people do not take bath in this pond because people cannot come out if they put their feet on the water once.  

 

Figure3.2 (i): Pond at Sathaukhair                      Figure3.2 (j): Pond at Sathaukhair

In this pond also, there is production of MAKHAN and leafs for providing food in BHOJ. The MAKHAN is very precious spice as well as used in religious events. Season wise, water hyacinth also producing, which are useless there. There is extra expenditure for removing the water hyacinth from this pond. Due to lack of proper management of this historical pond, infrastructures are going to be destroyed.

3.2.1 Outcome of focus group discussion:

• It needs proper management with separate organization to look them.
• Maintenance of lake is incomplete with lakes being covered by water hyacinth which has resulted in the hamper of beauty of lakes.
• People are using water of historical lakes for irrigation and due to scarcity of water aquatic plant and animals are in danger.
• Rehabilitation of lake is the must since it was drained by locals for land, encroachment should be controlled.

3.3 District Level Consultative Meeting:

Before conducting the consultative meeting, we met associated Prof. Bhogendra Jha of R R campus Janakpur to get information about related organizations for consultative meeting. He suggested a lot of information about the related organizations because he was the coordinator of commission for collection information about ponds/lakes, temples of Janakpur municipality in 2063.

After that, we met Mr. Mohan Bahadur GC, acting Chief District Officer to fix the date of consultative meeting with related stakeholders' organizations. He coordinated us to arranged meeting on 2066-06-06 (Tuesday) at 2PM. Mr. Nawal Yadav, assistant; District Administration Office helped us to distribute the invitation letter for consultative meeting.

 

Figure3.3 (a): Conversation with Bhogendra Jha            Figure3.3 (b): Consultative Meeting

The consultative meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mr. Mohan Bahadur GC, acting Chief District Officer, Dhanusha on 2066-06-06 (Tuesday) at 2PM. Following personnel were present in the meeting and made discussion on the status and conservation of ponds/lakes of Dhanusha District.

Table3.3: List of personnel and organizations

S.N.	Name	Organization	Designation	Remarks
1	Mr. Mohan Bahadur GC	District Administration Office	Asst. Chief District Officer
2	Mr. Satya Narayan Mandal	NAPI Office	Acting NAPI Officer
3	Mr. Ram Naresh Rai	MALPOT Office	Chief
4	Mr. Judhha Bahadur Ale	District Administration Office	Officer
5	Ms. Shova Kumari	RCIW	Engineer
6	Mr. Santosh Shah	GJADC Janakpur	Engineer
7	Mr. Digambar Rai	GJADC Janakpur	Chairman
8	Mr. Shubh Chandra Jha	Guthi office	Representative
9	Mr. Roshan Shankar Ghimire	District Development Committee	Officer
10	Mr. Parsuram Shah	GJADC Janakpur	Sub Engineer
11	Mr. Ajay Kumar Jha	Radio Nepal
12	Mr. Ram Bilash Shah	RCIW	Sub Engineer
13	Mr. Shambhu Prasad Shah	Shah SAMAJ	Member
14	Mr. Bhogendra Jha	R. R. Campus	Associated Professor
15	Mr. Deb Kumar Shah	NAST	Technical Officer

 

Figure3.3 (c): Consultative Meeting                  Figure3.3 (d): Consultative Meeting

 

Figure3.3 (e): Consultative Meeting                   Figure3.3 (f): Consultative Meeting

4. Suggestions and recommendations from district level consultative meeting:

In the consultative meeting, the representative of stakeholder organization put their on views for conservation of ponds/lake of Dhanusha district. They focused mainly on the ponds/sagars/kunds of Janakpur municipality. They dispute with each other for the ownership of ponds. Some conclusions and recommendations are as follows 

• There must be appropriate national policy for the lake conservation and should be allocated sufficient budget for that.
• There should be separate organization to look all these ponds/kunds etc.
• There should be proper management for set the beauty ness of the lakes/ponds.
• There should be fencing around the ponds/lakes.
• The drainage of municipality should not mix with these ponds/lakes.
• The public toilet should be on the bank of lakes/ponds, which support to be clean these ponds.
• The awareness program should be organized about the benefit form lake/ponds for local people.
• Booklets and documentary regarding importance of lakes should be prepared
• There should be biological control of water hyacinth.
• There should not be fishery in ponds/lakes.
• The water of ponds/lake should not be used for irrigation in land.

 

5. Conclusions and recommendations:

Dhanusha district is very famous for historical ponds and religious place. There are more than two hundred ponds in Dhanusha districts and about 75 ponds are only in Janakpurdham municipality. Janakpurdham is a religious and historical town in Nepal and is popular as holy Janki temple. Janakpurdham is known as the city of temple and ponds. It teems especially with ponds and other water structures.

The historical ponds and famous Janki temple characterize the city image. Janakpurdham is one of the major city for tourism industry in Nepal. There is great scope for tourism destination for international as well as national tourists. Each year, there are six major festivals, which attracts between 4 to 5 lakhs pilgrimage in a single day, which contributes in increment of income for local people. 

The conservation of lakes/ponds served as a habitat for a number of water birds, fishes, aquatic plants and vegetation having a very wide variety of species. The lake had greatly influenced the agrarian life style of local people. But in absence of awareness on environmental issues, local people drained the water of this lake and converted a large part of it into paddy fields.

Hence, lack of awareness has threatened the existence not only of the lake but also of the living species. These factors have destroyed the ecosystem of the lake and upset natural balance that will affect the human survival. Upsetting the balance of nature at one point has its effects at the other like declining the groundwater table day to day, extinction of the water birds and decreasing moisture content of cultivated lands.

Due to political instability, the management system of conservation of lakes/ponds are frequently changing which acts as an obstacle for the improvement of work and policy formulation as well as real use of budget. There is need of awareness program for local people to understand the priceless value of ponds/lakes.

6. Refrences:

• Commission Report, 2063 “Greater Janakpur Area Development Council for conservation and status of ponds/kunds of Janakpur Municipality”
• Master Thesis in Urban Planning, 2002: Shayam Kishar Singh, “Revitalization of ponds for sustainability of town” A case study of ponds in Janakpur Municipality, Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Lalitpur
• Repot  on ponds and kunds of Dhanusha district, 2055
• Information provided by National Lakes Conservation Development Committee
• Internet surfing