climate Article Climate Change and Its Possible Impact in Groundwater Resource of the Kankai River Basin, East Nepal Himalaya Champak Babu Silwal 1,2, Dinesh Pathak 2,* , Drona Adhikari 1,2 and Tirtha Raj Adhikari 3 1 Department of Geology, Central Campus of Technology, Tribhuvan University, Dharan 56700, Nepal;
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[email protected] (D.A.) 2 Central Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal 3 Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +977-9841476041 Received: 2 October 2020; Accepted: 18 November 2020; Published: 23 November 2020 Abstract: Increasing evidence of changing climate patterns is being observed, and the impact of this change on groundwater has a direct impact on the livelihood and economy of the region. The research focuses on the impacts of global temperature increase and changing precipitation on the groundwater resources of part of the Himalayan river system. The spatial and temporal variations of the hydro-meteorological data of the Kankai River Basin in East Nepal were analyzed using non-parametric Mann–Kendall tests and Sen’s Slope methods, whereas CanESM2 was used to predict the future precipitation scenarios, and an attempt has been made to evaluate the possible impacts on groundwater systems in the region. The temperature shows a significant warming trend (0.14–0.64 ◦C/decade); however, the precipitation trends suggest remarkable variation mostly at higher elevation. The average annual precipitation suggests a decrease of 1.82 mm/year and a similar decrement has been projected for the future.