The Climate Change induced hazards impact on water sources and adaptation practices in Mulkharga of Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract

Water availaibility is the major future impact which humans will face, especially in developing countries because of global climate change. This study analysed the observed and locally perceived climatic variation along with the assessment of impacts of climate induced hazards on spring sources in Mukharka Village of Kathmandu District, Nepal along with the exploration of the autonomous adaptation practices by the local communities to withstand these induced hazards and water scarcity. Recoreded monthly rainfall and temperature data were collected from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology of Sundarijal Station and Budhanilkantha station of 24 years and 16 years respectively. Questionnaire survey was done with 128 households along with a Focus Group Discussion and Key Informant Interviews. Linear trend analysis of the rainfall and temperature was used. The obtained trend was corresponded to locally perceived trend of climate variability. Hazard ranking tools were used to prioritize hazards with a likert scale assigning the value of maximum and minimum criteria of possible hazards in the community.

The analysis of  24 years  rainfall data (1995-2018 AD) and 16 years temperature data  (1995-2010 AD) showed the changing pattern of precipitation and temperature in the study area. The total annual precipitation shows decreasing trend with an average of 1.16 mm rainfall per year. The average maximum temperature showed increasing trend with the slope of 0.06°C per year and  minimum temperature  showed decreasing trend with the  slope of 0.02° C per year. The people in the study area have expereined an increase in temperature despite a reduction in monsoon by -3.11 mm per year and winter rainfall by -0.2587 mm per year. They also revealed depletion of water sources resultant of decreased monsoon and winter rainfall patterns along with other natural disasters which are more frequent in the area. The study area's vulnerability to hazards such as drought and landslides is made clear by the depletion of spring sources, which is a significant concern. Climate variability, characterized by changes in precipitation patterns and temperature, has been found to exert a significant impact on the availability of water resources, including the drying up of springs, thereby increasing the risk of Climate-induced hazards such as drought and water scarcity. Local people have adapted various autonomous adaptation practices such as plantation of Alnus nepalensis, construction of storage tanks and implementation of rainwater harvesting to respond to depletion  of water sources and the hazard  that they faced during extreme climatic events.