Recent population growth, industrialization and unplanned urbanization have led to an increase in untreated waste disposal directly to the river system, including heavy metals. The present investigation was conducted for assessment of heavy metals in the Kavre valley river basin system. Through this basin, two major rivers Punyamata and Roshi along with their tributaries, flow passing through cities (Banepa, Shree Khandapur and Panauti) and the heavy metals selected were Iron (Fe), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn) and Cadmium (Cd). Seven sites were selected on the basis of city size and meeting point of tributaries. Fe, Cr and Mn were examined using UV-spectrophotometry whereas Pb, Zn and Cd were determined using AAS. The highest concentration of Cr, Mn, Fe, Cd, Zn, Pb were determined to be 1.9 μg/L, 22.6 μg/L, 514 μg/L, 340 μg/L, 20 μg/L, 80 μg/L, respectively, with Fe, Cd and Pb exceeding the WHO limits.
Construction of underground Cavern in the Himalayan region is full of challenges and uncertainties. Experience has shown that construction in Himalayan regions requires good understanding of geology, adequate site investigations, proper design and selection of suitable construction methodology and technology. The most commonly encountered geological problems during excavation of underground structure in Hydroelectric Projects are, Fault/Thrust/Shear Zones squeezing and swelling, wedge block failure etc. Tehri Pumped Storage Plant (PSP) is located at the left bank of river Bhagirathi in the state of Uttarakhand in Northern India. This case study indicates about the geological challenges faced and their remedial measures during the construction of Tehri PSP Powerhouse Cavern having dimension of 203m x 24m x 58m.3D-geological mapping with 1:100 scales was carried out in excavated central drift of powerhouse to evaluate the rock composition, behavior of rock mass, structural features and further investigation to finalize the layout and orientation. During the investigation Sheared Phyllite with bands of thinly Phyllite Quartzite rock were encountered in the end portion of central drift of powerhouse which had posed a mammoth challenge in designing the powerhouse cavern. Keeping in view the recommendations of geotechnical experts and the design consultants, decision were made to shift the cavern further by 50 m to avoid Sheared Phyllite bands. The shifting of cavern led to the reorientation of structures like control room, service bay and location of units etc. This paper briefly describes the Engineering Geological and Geotechnical set up of powerhouse with proper investigation approaches and excavation sequences highlighting the importance of orientation and Sheared Phyllite Zone.
The aim of this manuscript is to discuss the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) performance along the recently constructed headrace tunnel of Minas-San Francisco Hydropower Project in Ecuador. Firstly, the manuscript briefly describes the importance of TBM tunneling and about the Minas-San HPP. Further, discussions are made on the engineering geological conditions along the headrace tunnel. Detailed evaluations are made on the performance of TBM tunneling considering influence of rock mass quality on the TBM penetration rate. The manuscript emphasizes that the knowledge of the rock mass quality parameters and cutter technology available at present are among the key factors that influence the estimation of the net penetration rate of the TBM. It has been demonstrated that the hard to very hard rock masses of high abrasivity that were encountered along the headrace tunnel alignment caused very low penetration giving slow progress, which was not predicted during planning phase design. The authors investigated a fairly good link between TBM penetration and the mechanical strength of the rock mass.
This article contains a doctrinal analysis of the law and policy encouragement towards a low carbon energy transition in the Scotland. To do this, the present article is primarily focused on electricity sector of the Scotland and its commitment towards a low carbon transition in this sector in coming years. This article analyzes the existing significant laws and policies in Scotland that encourage towards a low carbon transition. However, it also evaluates international obligation upon the Scotland and the UK, as well, towards this transition. Subsequently, it assesses the UK’s legal framework in this regard. However, Scotland is firmly committed to achieve its targets towards a low carbon transition in the power sector although it needs more incentive and tight observation of the government to smoothen the process.
Despite the 2014 Indo-Nepal Electric Power Trade Agreement and the 2014 SAARC Framework Agreement for Energy Cooperation (Electricity), India issued two Guidelines within two years, one in 2016 and the other in 2018. After discussing the genesis of these two Guidelines, the author attempts to analyze the 2018 Guidelines. With India citing electricity trade as “issues of strategic, national and economic importance”, that was couched into “issues of international relations” in the 2018 Guidelines, this explains why the SAARC Framework Agreement for Energy Cooperation (Electricity) has made no headway at all in the last four years. The SAARC region, home of Buddha, Ashok, Akbar etc. may, perhaps, have to look east to the ASEAN on how electricity trading is done there. Electricity, besides being a strategic tool, is also an economic tool that should be used to uplift the quality of life of hundreds of millions of South Asians mired in deep poverty. Unless India takes the initiative akin to ASEAN, SAARC citizens will continue to wallow in that poverty!
The current focus of the country in meeting the increasing demands for energy has led to the increase in number of river water diversion projects for hydropower generation. But the lack of proper guidelines and monitoring mechanism has resulted in rampant licensing of hydropower projects. There are no rules for determining the appropriate number of water diversion projects in a single river. By discussing the case of rampant water diversion projects in the Modi Khola, of western Nepal, this paper raises an important issue of environmental feasibility of projects in the context where, only the engineering and economic feasibility of a project is taken as the basis for project approval and implementation.
This study was carried out during the period from March to August 2018. Published literatures and some unpublished data were collected from different sources and analyzed. It was found that the community people do not have good understanding and adequate participation on the sustainability of water supply systems. They only have interests in the regular flow in taps. They are also less aware in the regular repair and maintenance of water supply systems. Furthermore, the expectation of community is always financial support from local body and donor agency. The governance part of water user’s committee was also found unsatisfactory. Thus, the people should be provided with capacity development trainings for the sustainable development of community water supply system. similarly, implementation of water safety plan, and regular monitoring from local body are crucial activities that should be given high emphasis for the sustainability of rural water supply system.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a planning tool which enables decision makers to accept environmentally friendly projects and reject environment damaging projects or their certain components. EIA has been mandatory in Nepal since the enactment of Environment Protection Act in 1997. Usually in Nepal, EIA is done for a project late in the project cycle after many important decisions on design and locations have already been made. While in case of government sponsored projects, EIA has remained as ‘pro forma’ compliance with government’s legal requirements. This paper analyses outputs of approved EIA of a mega infrastructure project “Second International Airport Project” which government wants to implement despite of protests by conservationists, and environmental and social activists. There are technocratic problems in EIA Report such as informational weaknesses, insufficient analysis of impacts, and inadequately proposed mitigations measures. It indicates political influence on EIA. This paper suggests making policy decision on size and nature of an international airport and its facilities, alternative locations avoiding ecologically sensitive area, and source of funding. It proposes to conduct a comprehensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) complying with national and international environmental and social safeguards, before making any decision to fell trees.
Two schools in Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh, India) having hybrid ventilation (ceiling fan) were selected for indoor and outdoor air quality investigation. Investigated parameters include temperature, relative humidity, CO2, and PM2.5 for both indoor and outdoor air quality. The average concentrations of CO2, and PM2.5 are estimated for indoor and outdoor air quality. Result shows that adopted building performance is not good in comparison with designed ones. The indoor concentrations of various pollutants are found to be higher in comparison with outdoor, so there is an urgent need to reduce the levels of pollutants inside the primary classrooms.
In 2015, two massive earthquakes occurred in the central region of Nepal, killing more than 8000 people. The disaster destroyed many houses and public infrastructures and severely affected 14 districts in the central region of Nepal. Most of the affected people were disconnected from basic services such as safe drinking water. Being a basic human need, essential to live a healthy life, drinking water scheme rehabilitation project was initiated by many non-governmental agencies in coordination with the Government of Nepal (GoN). However, due to the limitation of the funds and time, most of the implementing agencies faced problems to prioritize schemes and the communities, which at first needed to focus to reinstate. Therefore, a vulnerable ranking method was adopted to distinguish the priorities to reconstruct damaged and totally destroyed water schemes in Dhading, Gorkha, Nuwakot, and Rasuwa districts of Nepal, which are the districts in the most earthquake affected region. In the process of vulnerability ranking, three major community level parameters and indicators were considered for the ranking. 1) Number of households without safe drinking water after an earthquake, 2) Number of households without improved sanitation after an earthquake, and 3) Disadvantage Group (DAG) ranking of the Village Development Committees (VDCs) of the districts. This process of ranking using community level parameters technique is able to substantiate a justice scientifically in front of the communities, government, donor, and other stakeholders in the selection of VDCs to rehabilitate the drinking water schemes.
Modern structures require more critical and complex designs; the need for accurate and efficient approaches to assess uncertainties in loads, geometry, material properties, manufacturing processes involved and also the operational environment, has increased significantly. Reliability assessment techniques help to develop the initial guidance for robust designs. In this context, the classical methods such as theory of probability, statistical methods and reliability analysis methods are often used by structural engineers. Some of the methods which have been developed in the later stages include Monte Carlo Sampling, Latin Hyper Cube Sampling, First and Second Order Reliability Methods, Stochastic Finite Element Method and Stochastic Optimization. In addition, in those structural problems where randomness is relatively small, a deterministic model is usually used rather than a Stochastic Model. However, when the level of uncertainty is high, Stochastic approaches are necessary for system analysis and design. Number of probabilistic analysis tools have been developed to qualify uncertainties, but the most complex systems are still designed with simplified rules and schemes, such as factor of safety based designs. However, these traditional design processes do not directly account for the random nature of the most input parameters. Factor of safety is used to maintain some degree of safety in the structural design. Generally, the factor of safety is understood to be the ratio of the expected strength of response to the expected load. In practice, both the strength and load are variables, the values of which are scattered about their respective mean values. When the scatter of the variables is considered, the factor of safety could potentially be less than unity and the traditional factor of safety based design would fail. More likely is that the factor of safety is too conservative, which leads to an over expensive design.
Globally, rapid population growth, unmanaged urbanization, and increased income level have brought significant changes in quantity and composition of solid waste generation. In developing countries, solid waste disposal in open dump sites is widely practised as an easy and economical method of waste disposal. The increased quantity and composition of solid waste has posed a serious threat to public health and environment in developing countries. Hence, alternative waste disposal methods such as composting, recycling etc. can be potential options for sustainable solid waste management. Such methods will also reduce the waste volume prior to reaching the landfill and will increase the landfill’s life. This paper aims to calculate the recovery value from Municipal Solid Waste (i.e. composting, biogas, paper, and plastic) in Jeetpur Simara Sub-Metropolitan City (JSSMC) in Nepal, and to calculate the area required for landfilling and dumping of biodegradable and residual solid waste respectively. Due to high biodegradable content (8,400 kg/day), the recovery values from compost and biogas generation are studied. Optimum distribution of biodegradable solid waste among these two options is also evaluated. A combination of 6.4 tons/day for composting and 2 tons/day for landfilling with a net recovery of NRs. 29,064 per day is calculated. The recovery values from plastic and paper are calculated at NRs. 11,088 and NRs. 15,048 respectively. Hence, a total recovery value of NRs. 201.48 lakhs per year is suggested. This revenue is excluding the construction and operation cost required for the establishment of compost plant and landfill biogas collection system. The area required to landfill 2 tons/day of degradable waste is 0.876 hectares and 4.06 hectares to dump residual solid waste for a design period of 15 years. In case, biogas is not extracted, a total of 4.936 hectares’ land is required for dumping the entire MSW generated from JSSMC. The revenue calculated reduces to NRs. 47,640 per day or NRs. 173.88 lakhs per year.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue: 23Year: 2018
The energy law and policy triangle are a complex area where energy law and policy are situated at the centre of a triangle and three other inalienable horns relating to this i.e. energy supply and energy security, cost relating to production of energy and environmental protection and preservation equally pull energy law and policy towards their direction. However, the energy law and policy emerge as a concern all over the world and states are taking initiative to ensure a balance among these three dilemmas. It is the reality that Bangladesh suffers severe shortage in power generation which also affects its overall economic development. Hence, in one hand, it needs to ensure continuous energy supply which is closely connected with country’s energy security also. On the other hand, it also needs to make a balance between the challenges of producing energy in affordable cost which will not adversely affect the environment as well. Nevertheless, Bangladesh, being a lower-middle income country at least put focus on the energy law and policy triangle in recent years. Still ensuring balance among these three opposite directions is still a challenge for Bangladesh. Despite that, the recent laws and policies relating to energy in Bangladesh show its commitment towards climate change mitigation which encourages more production and use of renewable energies in the country. Although there are some deficiencies in those laws and policies which can be overcome by further initiative. The State can reaffirm its position towards environmentally friendly affordable energy by amending those policies and legislations. This research paper is aimed to assess the dilemma of the Energy Law and Policy Triangle in recently legislated energy related laws and policies in Bangladesh.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water Energy and EnvironmentIssue No: 22Page: 10-15Uploaded date: January 14, 2018
One of the elements of sustainable hydropower development is the release of the environmental flows (Eflows). This Eflows is meant to ensure that prior use(r)s of the river water are respected and that essential riverine ecosystem functions are maintained. This paper presents the results of an e-flows assessment, using the hydrological index method, of Hewa Khola A and Lower Hewa Khola Hydropower Projects, in Phidim, Nepal. These projects are being developed in the tributaries of Tamor River in Eastern part of Nepal. The e-flows assessment results are compared with the current releases made from the projects in operation. Current operations are prone to lead to severe degradation and social conflict. Based on an evaluation of the effects of a higher Eflows release on the power production, the paper concludes with recommendations for appropriate Eflow releases, and thus for socially and environmentally sustainable operations of the hydropower projects. HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue: 23Year: 2018
Nepal has tremendous hydropower potential yet paradoxically experiences, until recently, loadshedding of up to 18 hours daily in the dry season and has not achieved self-reliant energy security. This paper analyses this paradox by reviewing the growth of hydroelectricity sector in Nepal. It identifies four phases; the illustration of technical capacity, industrial training and early investments, major policy challenges and paradigm shift and maturing hydropower sector. The spread of improved water mills as well as hydro installations is also reviewed briefly. The paper argues that Nepal will meet much of its projected national demand very soon (2018/19) but attaining self-reliant energy security after displacing fossil fuel is not in the horizon yet. While substantial hydro investments are in the pipeline; a strong, diverse hydro-mechanical manufacturing industry is established. But the electro-mechanical industry is non-existent. Policies have attracted substantial private investment in hydropower sector, but it is not geared towards the use of electricity for overall economic development of Nepal and has yet to streamline policy with respect to lean season augmented flow of water for drinking and irrigation purposes within and outside Nepal. A more fundamental paradox is that Nepal government has yet to acknowledge these anomalies that hinder sustainable economic developments.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue: 23Year: 2018
This study was conducted in the period of January 2014 to December 2015. The main objective of the study was to investigate the impact of climate change in the water basin and its catchment areas. The method was a survey of relevant literatures. Climate change is a big issue not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. The study found that the temperature is rising with 2.00 C on average per annum in western Nepal. This is relatively 3 times higher than lower temperature increase within the country and significantly higher in comparison to global trend of temperature variation. Over the last 36 years (1975-2010) in western Nepal, temperature is rising on an average of 1.2°C per annum. This is twice as compared to the global increment. This indicates more vulnerability of climate change in hills and high hills of Nepal. The average rise of temperature in Nepal is 0.06oC per year. The climate-induced disasters are; drought, severe floods, landslide, etc. They also have negative effects in agriculture in the hills and high hills of Nepal.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue: 23Year: 2018
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Despite the ‘immense’ water resources available, Nepal has not been able to transform this abundance of water resources into desired economic growth and societal welfare. This paper attempts to analyze the reasons for such incessant challenges that loom over water resources development in Nepal. This paper finds that it is not the resource that limits the development of water resources, but the approaches and wishes that are framed on the foundation of persistent myths. Analyzing those myths, this paper highlights the realities in water resources management of Nepal, and suggests that without dismantling the existing myths, the sustainable development of water resources seems limited.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue: 23Year: 2018
Millions of Nepali inhabit in a far-flung hamlet of Nepal, where the extension of national grid is unlikely even in the new future. Isolated Micro-hydro power plants are extensively used in these areas. This paper addresses the problem of deficient electricity during peak period in existing conventional micro-hydro plants by the introduction of battery storage in the plant. Micro-hydro plant with battery bank storages surplus power, which would be wasted in case of conventional micro-hydro plant, during off- peak period and supplies during peak period. The control strategies for Electronic Load Controller (ELC), three - phase ac/dc converter and buck converter are realized in Matlab Simulink environment. The simulated system was able to store surplus power into battery bank when load demand was less than power generated by Synchronous Generator (SG) and supply when the load demand was higher than generator’s generation. This model can be implemented in the already existing micro-hydro plants where the load demand for a short time has increased beyond generation capacity of generator. HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water Energy and EnvironmentIssue No: 22Page: 34-40Uploaded date: January 14, 2018
Tunnels and underground caverns located at greater depth (high rock cover or overburden) are subjected to high in-situ stress environment. Those rock mass that are relatively unjointed and massive are exposed to the brittle failure, which is famously known as rock spalling/ rock bursting phenomenon. Establishing state of the stress and evaluating stress-induced instability in tunnels passing through such rock mass at relatively greater depth is therefore a challenge. The aim of this manuscript is to describes existing brittle failure (rock burst) prediction methods that are being practiced worldwide and propose necessary editions so that quality of assessment is enhanced. The methods described are very practical and the author is confident that professional engineers will use them to evaluate and predict potential rock burst/ rock spalling scenario in the tunnels during planning, design and construction phases. Each method of prediction is explained, applicability extent is highlighted and comparisons between the methods are made. HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water Energy and EnvironmentIssue No: 22Page: 5-9Uploaded date: January 14, 2018
