Building ponds, building water security

Storing water during monsoon in the nepalese hills is crucial to have enough water to cope with the dry season, especially now that climate change is causing modifications in rainfall intensity and pattern.

In the framework of the project “Rain communities”, a collaborative field mission has been conducted in Nepal in October 2021 between the team members of the Water Harvesting Lab - WHL (University of Florence) and the IRHA. The visit aimed to refine the best sites for water collection and infiltration within the scope of the four rain communities of the project in the Pokhara region (Thulakot, Begnas, Hansapur and Majkot).

The field mission focused in particular on identifying ancient pokharis in the intervention area for planning their further rehabilitation. The pokharis (traditional Nepali ponds), which are used to store rainwater mainly for cattle rearing and irrigation, represent a good example of infrastructure to deal with water scarcity. Ecosystem services and water retention provided by pokharis are widely acknowledged by local people, especially since the traditional knowledge on pokharis has been lost by the young generation.