Water quality management planning zone development by introducing a GIS tool in Kathmandu valley, Nepal

This research was conducted to identify the critical pollution (BOD, TN, TP) areas and to develop the priority mitigation zone for the Bagmati River pollution in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal. A GIS tool was used to define and identify the critical pollution areas and sources. Pollution source information such as population, livestock, industry and land use were collected on the basis of the individual village boundary. The industrial, land use and living pollution were aggregated by the GIS overlay analysis capability to obtain the combined pollution load within the watershed. Priority areas for the mitigation of the pollution were defined considering the pollution loading rate, distance of stream from pollution source, and political, religious, and touristic values of the area. This research noticed that Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur municipalities are the major polluting areas and living beings are the major factors of Bagmati River pollution. Delivery ratio for the watershed was found to vary from 40-69% for BOD and nitrogen but the delivery of phosphorus was exceptionally high (92% at Gaurighat and 77% at Chovar) due to cremation activity of the Hindu religion on the riverbanks. Thus, the priority areas for the mitigation of the carbonaceous and nutrient source pollution were identified. At present the land use and industry impaired a very low contribution compared to the huge pollution load from the municipalities to the river system.