Coca-Cola, CIUD and WaterAid Nepal join forces for Rainwater Harvesting and Groundwater Recharge Project in Ranibari Community Forest
A joint initiative of Centre for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD), WaterAid Nepal and The Coca-Cola Foundation, has handed over the Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) and Groundwater Recharge (GWR) Project, to Ranibari Community Forest Users Group (RCFUG). The RWH & GWR system through cost effective techniques like rain garden, recharge pits and bamboo check dams, was handed over to the RCFUG by Mr. Puskar Lal Shrestha, Executive Director, CIUD, Mr. Kabindra Pudasaini, Program Manager, Water Aid Nepal, and the Coca-Cola system in Nepal. The project handover ceremony was held at Ranibari on Chaitra 12, 2074 to mark the World Water Day 2018.
In its relentless approach to creating lasting positive impact on the communities where it serves, The Coca-Cola Company continues to work on water efficiency, water conservation, water replenishment and integrated water resource management in Nepal and across the globe. This initiative is also considered as a climate change adaptive measure to secure water resources for the urban poor.
Rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge system is best described as the technique by which rain water is accumulated and stored with the intention of using it during the dry season or when there is a drought. It reduces water bills, provides an alternative supply during water restrictions and helps maintain a green and healthy garden. It helps mitigate the impact of climate change and maintains healthy soils. Ranibari is the only protected forest area within Kathmandu Valley, and this project will also benefit numerous households in the buffer area of the forest.
With learnings from past works and to support initiatives on water security to the Government of Nepal, WaterAid Nepal (WAN) in collaboration with The Coca Cola Foundation (TCCF) implemented its new project “Rainwater Harvesting for Groundwater Recharge” at Ranibari Forest area, Ranibari. The project intended to support recharging of shallow aquifer with Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) techniques with an effective and low cost option to ensure water security in rapidly growing urban communities with depleting ground water level. WAN recognized Centre for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD) as the implementing partner for this project.
The project used low cost recharge wells with filtration provision, which allows clean water to percolate underground with the provision of groundwater monitoring shafts. Similarly, another intervention, a 371-meter-long recharge trench, often considered rain garden, with different pervious layers, helps to retain water so that it percolates underground rather than moving into the drainage system. The 41 bamboo check dams, built within the premises, help prevent possible soil erosion and subsequent deposit of debris in the recharge trench. As a pilot, a complete rooftop rainwater harvesting system has been installed in the Learning Centre within the forest area. The rooftop rainwater harvesting system also includes a 12,000 liter underground reservoir tank and two supply tanks.
Mr. Puneet Varshney, Managing Director of Bottlers Nepal Limited said, “Water being a precious natural resource, we continue to ethically drive our approach in ensuring the sustainability of local water resources in the country. We persistently focus on increasing water use efficiency in our plants and collaborate with the larger community in working towards being a positive contributor to the availability of water in the aquifer by undertaking extensive ground water recharge projects in Nepal. It gives me great pleasure to handover this innovative Rainwater Harvesting and Groundwater Recharge project to the community in Ranibari, whilst remaining confident that this will address the local source water vulnerabilities in the area. I urge all relevant stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of this effort overtime, which can become an exemplary project for replication in the days to come.”
Mr. KabindraPudasaini, Program Manager, Water Aid Nepal said, “Ground water resources are depleting day by day. In urban areas like Kathmandu valley, most of the water recharge areas are covered by either concrete structures, pavement or blacktop roads, which means natural water recharge areas are reducing due to urbanization. Almost 70% of the rainwater is mixed in drain water, adding to the water logging problem on the main roads. Given this context, Rain water Harvesting and this water recharging method is instrumental in addressing water scarcity problem nationally, and in urban areas to fulfill the aim of the SDGs.”
Sudarshan Rajbhandari, Program Director, CIUD said, “Despite municipal water supply, we strongly advocate the need of rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge. We have been executing many similar physical interventions since 2004, as the demand of water in urban areas is exponentially increasing whereas sources are depleting and diminishing, largely due to haphazard urbanization and global warming. Moreover, groundwater recharge in the public spaces not only helps maintain the groundwater table, but also helps prevent those spaces from possible encroachments”.
Rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge system is best described as the technique by which rain water is accumulated and stored with the intention of using it during the dry season or when there is a drought. It reduces water bills, provides an alternative supply during water restrictions and helps maintain a green and healthy garden. It helps mitigate the impact of climate change and maintains healthy soils. Ranibari is the only protected forest area within Kathmandu Valley, and this project will also benefit numerous households in the buffer area of the forest.
With learnings from past works and to support initiatives on water security to the Government of Nepal, WaterAid Nepal (WAN) in collaboration with The Coca Cola Foundation (TCCF) implemented its new project “Rainwater Harvesting for Groundwater Recharge” at Ranibari Forest area, Ranibari. The project intended to support recharging of shallow aquifer with Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) techniques with an effective and low cost option to ensure water security in rapidly growing urban communities with depleting ground water level. WAN recognized Centre for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD) as the implementing partner for this project.
The project used low cost recharge wells with filtration provision, which allows clean water to percolate underground with the provision of groundwater monitoring shafts. Similarly, another intervention, a 371-meter-long recharge trench, often considered rain garden, with different pervious layers, helps to retain water so that it percolates underground rather than moving into the drainage system. The 41 bamboo check dams, built within the premises, help prevent possible soil erosion and subsequent deposit of debris in the recharge trench. As a pilot, a complete rooftop rainwater harvesting system has been installed in the Learning Centre within the forest area. The rooftop rainwater harvesting system also includes a 12,000 liter underground reservoir tank and two supply tanks.
Mr. Puneet Varshney, Managing Director of Bottlers Nepal Limited said, “Water being a precious natural resource, we continue to ethically drive our approach in ensuring the sustainability of local water resources in the country. We persistently focus on increasing water use efficiency in our plants and collaborate with the larger community in working towards being a positive contributor to the availability of water in the aquifer by undertaking extensive ground water recharge projects in Nepal. It gives me great pleasure to handover this innovative Rainwater Harvesting and Groundwater Recharge project to the community in Ranibari, whilst remaining confident that this will address the local source water vulnerabilities in the area. I urge all relevant stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of this effort overtime, which can become an exemplary project for replication in the days to come.”
Mr. KabindraPudasaini, Program Manager, Water Aid Nepal said, “Ground water resources are depleting day by day. In urban areas like Kathmandu valley, most of the water recharge areas are covered by either concrete structures, pavement or blacktop roads, which means natural water recharge areas are reducing due to urbanization. Almost 70% of the rainwater is mixed in drain water, adding to the water logging problem on the main roads. Given this context, Rain water Harvesting and this water recharging method is instrumental in addressing water scarcity problem nationally, and in urban areas to fulfill the aim of the SDGs.”
Sudarshan Rajbhandari, Program Director, CIUD said, “Despite municipal water supply, we strongly advocate the need of rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge. We have been executing many similar physical interventions since 2004, as the demand of water in urban areas is exponentially increasing whereas sources are depleting and diminishing, largely due to haphazard urbanization and global warming. Moreover, groundwater recharge in the public spaces not only helps maintain the groundwater table, but also helps prevent those spaces from possible encroachments”.
