Community Based Approach to Flood Early Warning in West Rapti River Basin of Nepal

Gautam, Dilip; Phaiju, Anup Gopal

doi:10.5595/idrim.2013.0060

Cited by 55 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This initial pilot was enhanced and extended, expanding over the next 10 years to cover eight river basins across Nepal (Karnali, West Rapti, Babai, East Rapti, Narayani, Bagmati, Kankai and Koshi basins) (Gautam and Phaiju, 2013). Over the past 5 years, the CBEWSs have become increasingly integrated with EWS provided by the national government, whilst maintaining community driven and managed features.…”

Section: Community-based Early Warning Systems (Cbewss) In Nepalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The climatic regime of the Karnali River basin is affected by the monsoon (June-September) and westerly circulation systems, with the former being dominant (Gautam and Phaiju, 2013). Analysing the historical records made available by the Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) indicates that the 70-80 % of the annual total precipitation and river flow occurs during the monsoon (Gautam and Phaiju, 2013;Shrestha et al, 2014).…”

Section: Flood Risk In Nepalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early CBEWSs in Karnali worked directly with communities to map historic flood events and to determine the relationship between observed river height at an upstream location and expected inundation downstream. Upstream "warning" and "danger" water levels were then established based on past floods (Gautam and Phaiju, 2013). Later CBEWSs in Karnali derived these thresholds at a community level based on a mixture of flood hazard mapping (carried out by DHM) and community experience.…”

Section: Risk Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analysing the historical records made available by the Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) indicates that the 70-80 % of the annual total precipitation and river flow occurs during the monsoon (Gautam and Phaiju, 2013;Shrestha et al, 2014). Snow melt contributes to pre-monsoon and post-monsoon stream flow.…”

Section: Flood Risk In Nepalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, in addition to the rising water level, gauge readers also disseminate warnings when the observed rainfall in the upstream catchment exceeds certain thresholds that might trigger floods downstream. Community level structures, such as Community Disaster Management Committees (CDMCs), also monitor and record information on flood levels, duration and impact (Gautam and Phaiju, 2013).…”

Section: Monitoring and Warningmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community-based early warning systems for flood risk mitigation in Nepal

Smith

Brown

Dugar

2017

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This paper focuses on the use of community-based early warning systems for flood resilience in Nepal. The first part of the work outlines the evolution and current status of these community-based systems, highlighting the limited lead times currently available for early warning. The second part of the paper focuses on the development of a robust operational flood forecasting methodology for use by the Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) to enhance early warning lead times. The methodology uses databased physically interpretable time series models and data assimilation to generate probabilistic forecasts, which are presented in a simple visual tool. The approach is designed to work in situations of limited data availability with an emphasis on sustainability and appropriate technology. The successful application of the forecast methodology to the floodprone Karnali River basin in western Nepal is outlined, increasing lead times from 2-3 to 7-8 h. The challenges faced in communicating probabilistic forecasts to the last mile of the existing community-based early warning systems across Nepal is discussed. The paper concludes with an assessment of the applicability of this approach in basins and countries beyond Karnali and Nepal and an overview of key lessons learnt from this initiative.

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Section: Community-based Early Warning Systems (Cbewss) In Nepalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Flood Risk In Nepalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Risk Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Flood Risk In Nepalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Monitoring and Warningmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community-based early warning systems for flood risk mitigation in Nepal

Smith

Brown

Dugar

2017

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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The benefits and negative impacts of citizen science applications to water as experienced by participants and communities

2020

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Citizen science is proliferating in the water sciences with increasing public involvement in monitoring water resources, climate variables, water quality, and in mapping and modeling exercises. In addition to the well-reported scientific benefits of such projects, in particular solving data scarcity issues, it is common to extol the benefits for participants, for example, increased knowledge and empowerment. We reviewed 549 publications concerning citizen science applications in the water sciences to examine personal benefits and motivations, and wider community benefits. The potential benefits of involvement were often simply listed without explanation or investigation. Studies that investigated whether or not participants and communities actually benefitted from involvement, or experienced negative impacts, were uncommon, especially in the Global South. Assuming certain benefits will be experienced can be fallacious as in some cases the intended benefits were either not achieved or in fact had negative impacts. Identified benefits are described and we reveal that more consideration should be given to how these benefits interrelate and how they build community capitals to foster their realization in citizen science water projects. Additionally, we describe identified negative impacts showing they were seldom considered though they may not be uncommon and should be borne in mind when implementing citizen science. Given the time and effort commitment made by citizen scientists for the benefit of research, there is a need for further study of participants and communities involved in citizen science applications to water, particularly in low-income regions, to ensure both researchers and communities are benefitting.

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