Nepal posses 2.27% of the world water resource. 6000 river tributaries including perennial, ephemeral, intermittent rivers, 2323 glaciers lakes and Stone spouts, Stone Spouts are ancient engineering and architecture of Nepal for supply of water to public The major source of water a for spouts are the rainwater. In Kathmandu valley there are 389 stone spouts. The abundance of the spouts can be classified as 165 stone spouts in Kathmandu, 61 in Lalitpur, 87 in Bhaktapur, 65 in Madhyapur Thimi and 11 in Kirtipur. (NGOFORUM, 2004)

These spouts are conserved by the locals as for their secondary water source after Supply tap water from KUKL (authority to supply water in valley). But due to unmanaged urbanization 45 spouts have been vanished and 276 are alive at present day. Among them 233 are supplying from the natural source while rest are connected with KUKL supply lines. From the natural source about 3MLD water is supplied during dry period while about 8 MLD in the wet monsoon season. This amount of water is partially fulfilling the need of the urban dwellers of Kathmandu without any proper maintenance.

 

Lalitpur Sub Metropolitan city is 8 Km South from the Kathmandu with Latitude 27039?to 27041? North and 85018? to 85021? East. with and altitude 1280 to 1330m above sea level. In LSMC there are 54,581 Households with the population of 2,20,802 among which 1,13,781 are male and 1,07,021 are female population (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2011). Public water consumption pattern in LSMC area is a max of 49 lpcd and a minimum of 29 lpcd which is mainly fulfilled by KUKL- supply, wells, tanker supply provided in different place in LSMC area and stone spouts. This piped KUKL supplies 32 millions liters per day of water in wet season and 22 millions liters per day in dry season, while the total demand is 38 millions liter per day. The Total discharge from the Stone Spouts of lalitpur alone was found to be 1467.20 m³ in wet days so storage and proper distribution of this water can minimize water stress in the area to some extent for the residents.

As my academic project work, I carried out water quality test of majorly used spouts across the city. I samples 10 water samples among 61 spouts for my study of LSMC. It  is  found that the water quality is  slightly  changes  with reference to the thesis conducted by Mr Sunil Shakya on (Topic Prospectus of Traditionaional Stone Spouts as an Alternativer Drinking Water Resource in Lalitpur Sub- Metropolitancity). But the water quality is within the WHO and Nation Drinking Water Quality Stnadard. guideline vale which is feasible for human use with minor treatment like disinfection.

S.N	Parameter	Units	NDWQS	WHO
1.	Turbidity	NTU	5(10)	5
2.	Colour	?Hazen	5 (15)	10
3.	Electrical Conductivity	?S/cm	1500	1500
4.	pH	-	6.5- 8.5	6.5-8.5
5.	TDS	mg/l	1000	-
6.	Total Alkalinity	mg/l	500	500
7.	Total Hardness	mg/l	500	500
8.	Ammonia	mg/l	1.5	1.5
9.	Iron	mg/l	0.3 (3)	0.3
10.	Chloride	mg/l	250	250
11.	Nitrate	mg/l	50	50
12.	Calcium	mg/l	200	200
13	Manganese	mg/l	0.2	0.2
14	Residual Chlorine	mg/l	0.1-0.2	0.1-0.2
15	Total Coliforms	CFU / 100 ml	0	0
16	E.coli	CFU / 100 ml	0 (95% sample)	0 (95% sample)

(WHO and NDWQS guideline value for Drinking Water)

(Water Quality Analysis Result)

In addition, it is also observed that due to the massive construction to fulfil the  increasing population demand, land use is changing due to which only limited water  percolated in the ground during rainfall, as the major source of water in the Spouts are the rain water. In contrary many more Spouts have dried up with some of them on the verge of disappearing.

In the mean time, the spouts are still offering pristine quality water for human use even in the worst scenario of unmanaged urbanization, population pressures, ground water pollution. So if the spouts surrounding periphery and nearby location are maintained properly with sustainable engineering practice the  revived stone spouts can offer adequate water to minimize water stress in the Lalitpur area as it contributes 27 % in the water supply to its residents at present.

Additional Information.:

The Stone Spouts present in LSMC along with the its location and discharge per day as mentioned in Sunil Shakya Report.