Water Quality Assessment of the Bagmati River Banita Rana Dr. Rebecca Vidra, Adviser April 23, 2020 Masters Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Environmental Management degree in the Nicholas School of the Environment of Duke University CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................................6 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................1 1.1 HISTORY OF THE BAGMATI RIVER .................................................................................................... 1 1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BAGMATI RIVER ......................................................................................... 3 2 INITIATIVES FOR BANGMATI RIVER CONSERVATION ...........................................4 2.1 THE BAGMATI RIVER BASIN IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (BRBIP) .............................................. 4 2.1 THE BAGMATI RIVER CLEANUP CAMPAIGN ................................................................................. 5 2.2 PASHUPATI AREA DEVELOPMENT TRUST (PADT) ...................................................................... 7 2.3 NATIONAL TRUST FOR NATURE CONSERVATION (NTNC) ................................................. 8 2.4 UN PARK DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE ........................................................................................... 8 2.5 FRIENDS OF BAGMATI (FOB) ............................................................................................................... 8 2.6 NEPAL RIVER CONSERVATION TRUST (NRCT) ........................................................................... 8 3 LITERATURE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH .......................9 3.1 COMPARISON OF CLEANING THE BAGMATI RIVER WITH OTHER RIVERS ..................... 9 3.1.1 RIVER THAMES IN BRITAIN .................................................................................................. 9 3.1.2 RIVER KALLANG IN SINGAPORE ..................................................................................... 10 3.1.3 RHINE RIVER IN EUROPE .................................................................................................... 10 3.1.4 QINHUAI RIVER IN CHINA ................................................................................................ 10 4 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 12 4.1 REESEARCH QUESTION ....................................................................................................................... 12 4.2 STUDY AREA ............................................................................................................................................. 12 4.3 DATA COLLECTION .............................................................................................................................. 13 4.2.1 SELECTION OF SITES ............................................................................................................ 13 4.2.2 WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS ...................................................................................... 22 4.2.3 METHOD OF COLLECTION .............................................................................................. 22 4.4 METHOD OF ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................ 23 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................................... 24 5.1 RESULTS FOR SEASONAL VARIATION BY SITE ........................................................................... 24 5.1.1 PH READINGS .......................................................................................................................... 24 5.1.2 TURBIDITY ................................................................................................................................ 24 5.1.3 DISSOLVED OXYGEN ........................................................................................................... 25 5.1.4 BIOLOGICAL OXYGEN DEMAND ................................................................................... 26 5.1.5 CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND ....................................................................................... 27 5.1.6 E. COLI ....................................................................................................................................... 28 5.2 DISCUSSION OF SEASONAL VARIATION BY SITE ..................................................................... 28 5.2.1 PH READINGS .......................................................................................................................... 28 5.2,2 TURBIDITY ................................................................................................................................ 29 5.2.3 DISSOLVED OXYGEN ........................................................................................................... 29 5.2.4 BIOLOGICAL OXYGEN DEMAND ................................................................................... 30 5.2.5 CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND ....................................................................................... 30 MP FINAL 2 5.2.6 E. COLI .............................................................................................................................................. 30 5.3 TREND IN PARAMETERS DURING 2012 - 2019 ............................................................................ 30 5.3.1 SUNDARIJAL ............................................................................................................................. 30 5.3.2 GOKARNA ................................................................................................................................ 32 5.3.3 GAURIGHAT ............................................................................................................................ 33 5.3.4 SHANKHAMUL GHAT .......................................................................................................... 35 5.3.5 TRIPURESHWAR ..................................................................................................................... 36 5.3.6 BALKHU ..................................................................................................................................... 38 5.3.7 CHOVAR ................................................................................................................................... 39 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................ 41 6.1 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................... 41 6.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................................ 42 6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................................... 42 7 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 44 8 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 47 8.1 BAGMATI RIVER CLEANUP CAMPAIGN ......................................................................................... 52 MP FINAL 3 Figure1-1. Location Map ............................................................................................................. 1 Figure 1-2. Tributaries of the Bagmati River .............................................................................. 2 Figure 4-1. Sampling locations in Bagmati River .......................................................................... 14 Figure 4-2. Sampling locations in the Bagmati River in an aerial view ........................................... 14 Figure 4-3. Aerial view of Sundarijal sampling location ................................................................ 15 Figure 4-4. Aerial view of Gokarna sampling location .................................................................. 16 Figure 4-5. Aerial view of Guheshwari Ghat sampling location ..................................................... 17 Figure 4-6. Aerial view of Gaurighat sampling location ................................................................ 17 Figure 4-7. Aerial view of Tilganga sampling location .................................................................. 18 Figure 4-8. Aerial view of Sankhamul Ghat sampling location ...................................................... 19 Figure 4-9. Aerial view of Tripureshwar sampling location ........................................................... 19 Figure 4-10. Aerial view of Teku Dovan sampling location ........................................................... 20 Figure 4-11. Aerial view of Balkhu Dovan sampling location ........................................................ 21 Figure 4-12. Aerial view of Chovar sampling location .................................................................. 21 Figure 5-1. pH readings .............................................................................................................. 24 Figure 5-2. Turbidity ..................................................................................................................