Micro-syllabus

Course Title: Freshwater Conservation and Management Course No: Env. 623 Year: II Full Marks: 100 Pass Marks: 40 Teaching hrs: 120 hrs

General Objective: The purpose of the course is to produce competent and analytical professionals having a broad knowledge on freshwater conservation and management

Specific Objectives: To acquaint with the dynamics of freshwater ecosystem and integrated wetland management To provide knowledge on sustainable water utilization and planning in hydropower, industry, agriculture, water supply and sanitation To familiarize with water governance and policies of Nepal To enhance knowledge of climate change impacts and mitigation in water sector Unit 1. Dynamics of Freshwater Ecosystem 10 hrs

Freshwater ecosystems: hydrodynamics, global changes and indicators of disturbances; assessment of aquatic ecosystem health: chemical, biological and ecological assessment methods; glacier ecosystem and its dynamics; land water interaction; morphometry of lakes; eutrophication: causes and its control; Unit 2. Wetland Management 15 hrs

Wetlands: delineation and biodiversity; methods of economic valuation of wetland ecosystem services; assessment of anthropogenic impacts including tourism impact on wetlands; issues of high altitude, midland and lowland wetlands of Nepal including Alien Invasive Species; wetlands: carbon sequestration and GHGs emission; conservation and management of wetlands: institutional arrangement, Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM), conflict management and a case study of wetland management plan; ecohydrological principles and

restoration of degraded wetlands; Ramsar Convention and wise use concept; Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and wetland biodiversity conservation Unit 3. Sustainable Utilization of Freshwater Resources 10 + 7+15+8= 40 hrs

Ground Water Dynamics Ground water occurrence and Nepalese scenario; zones of underground water; Darcys law; hydraulics of well: Dupuits, Thiems formulae for confined and unconfined aquifer, Jacobs methods of unsteady radial flow to well in a confined aquifer; yield of open well; potential and actual exploitable ground water resources; sustained exploitation; estimation of groundwater flow, contaminant transport and introduction to groundwater modelling; methods of ground water recharge and sustainable aquifer management Agriculture and Aquaculture Crop response to water and water use efficiency; improvement of water use efficiency; crop water requirements and practical irrigation scheduling; irrigation: types, irrigation water quality and environmental impact; aquaculture: techniques and its water quality Hydropower Development Types and components of hydropower plants; reservoir design and function: storage zones, capacity-yield relation, fixation of reservoir capacity with mass curve, determination of reservoir capacity for a given yield, yield from a reservoir of given capacity, estimation of demands and optimized reservoir operations; flood routing; sedimentation, trap efficiency and life of a reservoir; biota of reservoir; interrupted fish migration; reservoir and livelihood; suitable site for reservoir; silting control and water quality management; environmental flow: concept, estimation and Nepalese perspectives Water Supply and Sanitation Water sources and availability; water supply and sanitation: trend and status; factors affecting water demand; water supply design criteria and distribution system; problems for supply of water; drinking water quality standards; key principles of ecological sanitation; simplified sewerage; decentralised water and sanitation systems Unit 4. Urban and Industrial Water Management 10 hrs

Water ecosystems in urban areas: water and matter cycles, structural alterations, chemical, biological and ecological status; effects of urbanization on water resources; water footprint; management of the urban water; industrial uses of water; industrial water quality standards;

hydrological view point for feasibility of industrial development; new technologies applied in water use and wastewater in industrial sector Unit 5. Water Governance and Policy 10 hrs

issues of water governance: poverty, gender, social exclusion, human rights to water, multistakeholder privatization and water conflicts; riparian rights; international initiatives: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); water governance in Nepal; trans-boundary aspects of water governance in Nepal; water policy and laws of Nepal: Water Resources Strategy, Nepal Water Plan and water related acts and regulations Unit 6. Water Resources Planning and Management 20 hrs

General steps in water resources planning; multipurpose project: objectives and economics; cost-benefit analysis; a case study of water project planning; floods: determination of design flood, probability and risk; flood hazard mapping; introduction to satellite rainfall estimation; water resources management tools and approaches: construction of dams, inter-basin transfer, taping groundwater, rainwater harvesting, indigenous technology, Integrated Watershed Management (IWM), Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Unit 7. Water and Climate Change 15 hrs

Climate change (CC) in relation to water: observed and projected changes in rainfall, water vapour, snow, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, runoff and river discharge, patterns of largescale climate variability; observed climate change impacts on cryosphere, hydrology & water resources; projections in water demand and availability in the context of CC; introduction to CC data analysis tools; CC vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation on water sector; IWRM in the context of CC; CC policies and adaptation plans of Nepal References Bates, B.C., Z.W. Kundzewicz, S. Wu & J.P. Palutikof (Eds.) (2008). Climate Change and Water. Technical Paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Secretariat. Geneva. Chapman, D. (Ed.) (1996). Water Quality Assessments: A Guide to Use of Biota, Sediments and Water in Environmental Monitoring, Second Edition. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). E and FN Spon

CN, GWP & UNDP (2005). Integrated Water Resources Management Plans: Training Manual an Operational Guide. Cap-Net, Global Water Partnership and UNDP Garg, S.K. (2002).Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering. Delhi, India: Khanna Publishers. Hutchinson, G.E. (1957, 1967, 1975 & 1993). A Treatise on Limnology, I, II, III, IV. New York: John Willey and SO11S. Hynes, H.B.N. (1970). The Biology of Running Waters. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ILEC (2005). Managing Lakes and their Basins for Sustainable Use: A report for Lake Basin Managers and Stakeholders. International Lake Environment Committee Foundation. Japan IPCC (2007). Synthesis Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Linsely, Kohler and Paluhus (1975). Hydrology for Engineers. New York: Ma-snow, Mc-Graw Hill National Research Council (1995). Wetlands: Characteristics and Boundaries. USA: National Academic Press. Todd, D. K., (1980). Ground water Hydrology. New York: John Wiley. UNESCO (2003). Integrated Water Resources Management on a Basin Level. A Training Manual. WaterAid Nepal (2005). Water laws of Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal: WaterAid Nepal WECS (2011). Water Resources of Nepal in the context of climate change. Wetzel, R.G. (2006). Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems, Third Edition. USA: Academic Press.