Water security in times of disaster risks : strengthening community-led initiatives in urban settings

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bidur (Nepal) residents relied on smaller community-managed water supply systems. Government lockdowns barred travel for technicians (along with most people), and machines used by larger projects having technical problems could not be repaired. The Bidur model offers a powerful example for built-in resilience. Large water supply systems are important but susceptible to risks like landslides. Municipalities need urgent technical support in water security planning. A study of Bidur residents’ households with access to alternative water sources supplied through smaller community-led projects were less affected by the 2015 earthquake

Urban water security in South Asia:Crucial policy lessons from the Nepalese town of Bidur

The rapidly urbanizing and highly populated South Asian region is facing a water crisis. As a key response, large centralized water systems are being put in place, replacing small and community-based systems. In this discussion note, we present the case of Nepal's town of Bidur to show that Himalayan South Asian towns cannot ensure water supply by neglecting community-based and small-scale water supply systems. Using insights from qualitative and quantitative data collected during 2014–2019, we argue that decentralized and community-based urban water systems are more resilient than large ones during disasters. Our argument is based on the analysis of Bidur's response to the 2015 earthquake as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. We show that a mixed approach of large and small water supply schemes provides a promising solution to water insecurity in the South Asian towns. This approach can be realized by promoting diversity of water management strategies and creating research-informed planning and discussion forums at the community and municipality levels. We also recommend municipalities to formulate a comprehensive water security strategy, considering the current and future scenarios of water demand and supply

A political ecology of water and small-town urbanisation across the lower Himalayas

This paper traces the logic, goals and arising changed socio-ecological relations and water norms introduced by donor- and state- led drinking water supply schemes to small urbanising settlements across the lower Himalayas of India and Nepal. While urban development and water planning tend to boundarise needs and interventions to city limits and city- dwellers, we adopt a hydro-social lens to trace the impacts and consequences of infrastructure and water as both travel through the landscape. Investments into water supply introduce new scales, spatialities and visions for urban development that actively peripheralise rural needs and interests, and introduce new dependencies for infrastructural maintenance that towns have considerable difficulty meeting, such as around energy, finance, and expertise. We find that water supply projects give rise to new power differentials and development trajectories between more- powerful, typically urban and down-stream communities, and rural, up- stream source regions. Projects bring new potentials but also disrupt old relations and customs around water, resulting in the emergence of conflicts within and without towns as water availability and access opportunities change. Application of a hydro-social and urban metabolism focus to Himalayan waterscapes makes visible the interdependent nature of resource provisioning to urban development centres, with environmental and societal trade-offs