Urban Water Security Challenges in the Nepal and Indian Himalaya in the Context of Climate Change

South Asia is home to over a fifth of the world’s population that is increasingly becoming concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas. Small to medium-sized cities in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and India are undergoing rapid urbanization. The increasing population, changing lifestyles, economic status of people, and effects of climate change are all contributing to the ever-growing water shortages, leading to a situation of water insecurity in the region. Four cities, namely, Dhulikhel and Dharan in Nepal, and Mussoorie and Haldwani in India were chosen for study as representative of urban areas in the low to medium elevation in the Himalaya that are dependent on springs, streams, rivers and groundwater for meeting domestic and commercial water needs. The present situation and future prospects suggest that ensuring adequate supplies of acceptable quality water for these cities will become ever more challenging in the decades to come unless city specific climate adaptive and equitable water supply measures are employed effectively. Moreover, certain segments of city dwellers face greater difficulties in gaining access to potable water due to socio-cultural and economic factors. Therefore, to achieve sustainable, equitable and climate resilient water management, measures such as, protection of critical urban water zones, stream bank and gully stabilization, water harvesting and groundwater recharge will be needed along with augmentation of infrastructure, increased storage capacity, appropriate policies and institutional arrangements at local, state, and national levels for effectively addressing the issues of equitable water access to each of the households in the cities