Water Quality Test Report 2

1. Introduction

Geographically, The Kingdom of Nepal is divided into three regions; Mountain, Hill and Terai accommodating 7.3, 44.3 and 48.4 percent of the population respectively. The elevation ranges from 90 to 8848 meters. There are number of peaks, rivers and Lakes in the country including Mt Everest (8848m.), the highest peak in the world. About 100 lakes and more than 1000 of ponds are distributed over the country and are found in tropical low land to high altitude i.e. in Himalayan regions. Lakes are classified into glacial, tectonic and ox- bow according to their origin (Shrestha 1919).

The middle ranges (Hill) consist of valleys and Lakes, surrounded by many beautiful snow covered mountains. Pokhara valley is one among those valleys which is surrounded by high peaks of Mt. Annapurna (8091m.) and Mt. Macchapuchhre (6996 m.). Pokhara valley comprises a subtropical type of climate and a highest rainfall area of Nepal as well and is famous for having three sizable Lakes, Phewa, Begnas and Rupa.

Phewa Lake is situated at the southern edge of the Pokhara city. This is the second largest lake of the country and the largest among the three lakes of Pokhara valley. A famous Barahi temple representing the Barahi goddess is located at a small island in the Lake. View of Annapurna and fishtail Himal are the tourist attraction centre here. So Pokhara is one of the most beautiful city of the country for its scène and beauty. The local people utilize the Lake water for various purposes like washing clothes, cleaning utensils, bathing, swimming and other recreational activities. Several pipelines are connected to the Lake for extracting water. But in the other hand the lake is found polluted by liquid waste directly discharge from the shops located at the periphery of lake side and even municipal waste as well.
Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) under the Phewa Lake Environment Awareness and Capacity Building Project (PLEACBP) carried out water quality monitoring program in the Phewa Lake of Pokhara valley. The project is being implemented under the Pokhara Sub Metropolitan City to improve Phewa Lake by conservation management through initiatives of local communities to reduce urban pollution loads to the Lake. The major goal of the project is to conserve Lake through water quality management by enabling the local community through activities like supporting environmental awareness, capacity building and conservation programs.

Water quality monitoring is one of the major projects among the other activities of the project (PLEACBP). Altogether there are six different sampling sites in the Phewa Lake, and all are located in ward no. 6 Pokhara Sub Metropolitan City. These sites are Dammed site, Gaighat, Barahighat, Camping chowk, Seti Canal (Siltration Basin) and Gaira Ko Cautara.

2. Objectives:
The main objective of this monitoring program is to know the water quality of Phewa Lake, pollution status and the potential cause for the pollution.