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THE STATUS OF TRADITIONAL STONE

SPOUTS IN THE KATHMANDU VALLEY,
NEPAL
Surabhi Upadhyay Amber Bahadur Thapa Rajaram Prajapati
Smartphones For Water Nepal Smartphones For Water Nepal Smartphones For Water Nepal
(S4W-Nepal) (S4W-Nepal) (S4W-Nepal)
Lalitpur, Nepal Lalitpur, Nepal Lalitpur, Nepal
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—An icon of the Kathmandu Valley civilization, water demand escalation from 155 to 370 million
‘stone spouts’ are traditional water supply systems that liters a day (MLD) between 2000 and 2015 [8].
originate from ancient canals (Rajkulos), natural However, as of 2015, Kathmandu Upatyaka
springs or shallow aquifers. These stone spouts are Khanepani Limited (KUKL) is supplying only 115
either dry or on the verge of extinction today. Despite
cultural and economic significance, these stone spouts
MLD and 69 MLD in wet and dry seasons,
are overlooked in various water management strategies respectively [4]. Due to this growing imbalance
and baseline data is scarce. As a result, its regular between water demand and supply, core areas of the
monitoring and management remain a challenge. The Kathmandu Valley are facing severe water shortages
main objective of this research was to identify the status [6][8][10]. The conversion of agricultural land to
of 250+ stone spouts of the Valley mobilizing university built-up areas from 62% to 42% from 1984 to 2000
students as citizen scientists during the 2018 post- and has declined the recharge of stressed underlying
2019 pre-monsoon. All data were recorded in an groundwater aquifers [8]. In such a case, the
Android application called Open Data Kit (ODK) importance of cost-effective and efficient traditional
Collect. Out of the 287 stone spouts surveyed, in post-
monsoon period, there were 146 flowing and 141 non-
water supply source i.e. stone spouts can be
flowing stone spouts. When the season changed, in pre- highlighted.
monsoon, there were 112 flowing and 175 non-flowing
stone spouts. Also, the flow rate was higher in the post- The stone spouts (also known as Dhunge Dhara in
monsoon than pre-monsoon, except for some of the Nepali and Hiti in Newari), developed in the 6th
exceptions. This could be due to various factors century AD, served as the only communal drinking
including urbanization, overpopulation, depletion of water source for the urban dwellers living in the
shallow groundwater aquifers, reduced surface Kathmandu Valley [12]. The concept of stone spouts
infiltration capacity, destruction of state canals, initiated during the Kirat period, developed further
excessive groundwater extraction, and obstructions to
subsurface flow areas. Management of these ancient
during the Lichhavi period and its construction then
spouts is hence crucial to preserve our historical extended during the Malla regime [1]. The recharge of
ambiance and reduce the water stress of the Valley. the stone spouts is a local shallow aquifer (10m below
Keywords—stone spouts, Kathmandu Valley, citizen the ground) which is further recharged by conveyance
scientists canals called state canals (Rajkulos). The operating
system of the traditional water supply system is
illustrated in Figure 1. Back in history, the integrated
I. INTRODUCTION
network of state canals, ponds and water conduits
Over the past decades, global freshwater use has provided sustainable water supply to the Valley's
shown an exponential growth mainly due to rapid population.
population growth and economic development.
Groundwater resource depletion, surface water
pollution, over withdrawals and climate change effects
have threatened the availability and sustainability of
freshwater resources. Despite being rich in water
resources, both urban and rural areas of Nepal face
severe water quality and quantity crisis.

Kathmandu, one of the most populated and

urbanized cities of Nepal, is characterized by its
deteriorated water quality and acute water shortage Figure 1: Flowchart showing the traditional water
[8]. In the Kathmandu valley, population growth from supply system in the Kathmandu Valley [3]
1.65 to 2.53 million between 2001 and 2011 has led to

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An icon of the Kathmandu Valley civilization, fertile soil deposits that favor agricultural production
these stone spouts are historically and culturally of rice, corn and vegetables from northern to southern
significant. However, with the development of the parts. The subtropical cool temperate climate is
modern water supply system and lack of attention and influenced by South Asian monsoon altering the
priority, the medieval ones are being discarded. Many precipitation pattern and wind direction [13]. More
of the stone spouts have already dried up, while many than 80% of the annual rainfall occurs from June to
others have reduced flow. According to UN-Habitat, September. Within the Valley, the highest and least
the introduction of piped water supply system after amount of precipitation falls in the north-western and
1950 A.D. is the reason for the destruction of the southern parts, respectively. The monsoon season is
traditional water sources in the Valley [11]. Before the followed by winter, spring, and summer. The average
introduction of piped water supply system, stone annual temperature and rainfall are 18.1°C and 1407
spouts were the main source of drinking water for the mm, respectively.
people residing in the Valley [6]. Nowadays, people
choose private and personal water taps over stone
spouts for domestic and household purposes.
Concurrently, the reasons for the declination of these
ancient stone flow are: increase in developmental
activities, destruction of source, decrease in open
spaces, modern construction, digging of deep
boreholes, and deforestation [9]. The state canals
which supply water to these spouts have been
destroyed. For instance, the Sundhara Hiti ran dry
because of the destruction of its source which was
located in the area where Kathmandu Mall was built
[7]. Out of the total 389 recorded stone spouts, 34, 4
and 7 had already disappeared in Kathmandu,
Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur, respectively. Many of the
Fig. 1: Kathmandu Valley Watershed map showing the stone spouts
remaining are not working and not fully functional location
[7]. Human footprint continues to expand at an
alarming rate, and competition among the priorities of B. Data Collection
conservation actions tends to increase. In the priority
list, the study of stone spouts (in terms of its status) is From 15 to 27 September (2018; post-monsoon) -
scarce. and 22 to 26 March (2019; pre monsoon), each group
of 6 Bachelor’s in Environmental Science student
Past studies in stone spouts doesn’t have temporal citizen scientists from various academic institutions of
studies and very less spatial one. So, this study will Nepal joined Smartphones For Water Nepal (S4W-
thus help in defining existing conditions of the stone Nepal) two-weeks-long Dhunge Dhara and Land Use
spouts, and continuing data collection will show any Classification (2D-LUC) Campaign. This research
changes that occur over time. Also, the research aims was done within the project of S4W-Nepal.
to increase awareness among the university students Theoretical orientation and field-training were given
and locals about the importance of traditional water to the students citizen scientists for data collection. All
supply system, here in this case, stone spouts. measurements were recorded in an Android
application called Open Data Kit (ODK) Collect. For
II. METHODS each sampling location, stone spouts flow, quality and
land use classifications were performed using a
A. Study area customized ODK form. The date, time and GPS
Located between 27°32’13” to 27°49’10” North locations were recorded using the same form and
latitudes and 85°11’31” to 85°31’38” East longitudes collected data were transferred into S4W Aggregate
in the central region of Nepal, Kathmandu Valley server via Wi-Fi or cellular network.
(Valley) (Figure 2) is one of the rapidly urbanized
mountain basins of the Himalayas. The Valley is a For stone spouts discharge measurement, a
circular intermontane basin with an area of 644 km2 measuring bucket of known volume and a stopwatch
encircled by mountains in its peripheries. The Valley timer were used. The bucket was held under the stone
comprises three districts; Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and spout, timer was started, and the time taken to fill up
Lalitpur with a total population of 2.53 million the bucket was recorded and hence, flow was
according to the 2011 census [8]. The elevation ranges measured. For example, if the 12 litres bucket takes 25
from 1100 to 2700 meters above the sea level (masl) seconds to fill, the flow rate (in litres per second i.e.
with a mean of 1300 masl. Within a small lps) would be 0.48 lps. For quality, electric
geographical area, the Valley has complex topography Conductivity for all the flowing stone spouts were
[8]. The Valley has a mild southerly slope and has recorded. The Tusa Hiti located at Mangalbazaar of
Lalitpur district is one of the examples of flowing

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stone spouts. The image was captured by the citizen Dividing the 287 stone spouts into three districts
scientists during the campaign. (Figure 3), we found altogether 128, 101 and 58 stone
spouts in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur,
respectively. The number of non-flowing stone spouts
exceeded the flowing one when from post-monsoon
to pre-monsoon. In Kathmandu, out of 128 stone
spouts, 69 were flowing and 59 were dry. The
number of non-flowing stone spouts increased from
59 to 61 during the pre-monsoon. The highest number
of non-flowing stone spouts were more in the
Bhaktapur district. According to Manna (2016), the
massive earthquake of 2015 and haphazard urban
expansion are the reasons for the stressing stone
spouts in the Bhaktapur district [5]. There are other
stressors in the Valley besides the mentioned above;
destruction of state canals, depletion of groundwater
table, road constructions, land encroachments, and
Fig. 2: The Tusa Hiti located at Mangalbazaar of Lalitpur district modern constructions are to name a few. For instance,
the tall buildings require deeper foundations which
not only disrupts the flow but destroys the entire
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION channel supplying water to the spouts [3]. Land
encroachment for the establishment of buildings like
A. Status of stone spouts colleges, clubs, and organizations was seen in the
We surveyed a total of 287 stone spouts in both the Kathmandu Valley. Nepal Bank Limited construction
seasons i.e. post-monsoon 2018 and pre-monsoon over Pako Pukhu and Sajha Bhandar Building over
2019. In post-monsoon, we recorded 146 flowing and hiti at Bhotahiti are few examples [11].
141 dry stone spouts. For the flowing stone spouts, the
flow ranged from 0.004-11.488 lps with a mean and From Figure 4, we can see that high flow was
standard deviation of 0.255 and 0.429, respectively. observed in Lalitpur district compared to Kathmandu
However, in the pre-monsoon, the number of drying and Bhaktapur districts. In Patan, Lalitpur, various
stone spouts increased to 175 while the flowing one stone spouts like Kwont Hiti, Elahne Hiti, Sundhara
decreased to 112. The flow ranged from 0.002 to Hiti, Taapa Hiti, and Amrit Hiti were constructed and
1.464 lps with a mean of 0.036 and a standard revitalized after several protests for its conservation
deviation of 0.11. The number of flowing stone spouts [11]. Today, these stone spouts are supplying
and their respective flow was mostly dependent on the continuous water which might be the reason for high
rainfall with post-monsoon having a higher flow range flow in that area [11]. However, less variation was
and more number of flowing stone spouts. A similar observed in Bhaktapur followed by Kathmandu
study done in Kathmandu Metropolitan City showed which might be because of the seasonal effect.
73% and 27% continuous and seasonal flow of the
stone spouts, respectively. The findings revealed the
reason for comparatively high volume of water in the
rainy season is because of rain-water infiltration and
recharge of the underlying shallow aquifers (Khadge
and Tiwari, 2014).

Fig. 4: District-wise variation in Stone Spouts Flow from post- to

pre- monsoon where, (a), (b) and (c) are Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and
Lalitpur, respectively.

The EC of all the flowing stone spouts were

compared with National Drinking Water Quality
Standard (NDWQS) and World Health Organization
(WHO) standards. Out of 142 post-monsoon samples,
Fig. 3: District-wise variation in Stone Spouts Flow from post- to
11 samples exceeded the NDWQS i.e EC was more
pre- monsoon than 1500 while for 111 pre-monsoon samples, all
were within the guidelines. EC is the most important

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water quality parameter because it is highly there were 146 flowing and 141 non-flowing stone
correlated with other drinking water quality spouts. When the season changed, in pre-monsoon,
parameters [2]. So, it can help determine the there were 112 flowing and 175 non-flowing stone
potability of water for drinking water uses. The spouts. Also, the flow rate was higher in the post-
samples within 1500 μs/cm can be used for drinking monsoon than pre-monsoon, except some of the
water purposes after minor treatments like exceptions. So, the seasonal drying of stone spouts
disinfection. However, other drinking water observed in the study indicates the depletion of
parameters needs to be taken into consideration for groundwater aquifers, disruption of supply
mechanisms, and/or lowering groundwater tables.
determining its quality.
This could be due to various factors including
urbanization, overpopulation, depletion of shallow
groundwater aquifers, reduced surface infiltration
capacity, destruction of state canals, excessive
groundwater extraction, and obstructions to
subsurface flow areas. From local people’s perception,
springs were identified as main water supply source to
these stone spouts followed by state canal and pipeline
source. Management of these ancient spouts are
crucial to preserve our historical ambiance and reduce
the water stress of the Valley.

V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Figure 5: Electrical conductivity variation in the sampling locations I would like to thank S4W-Nepal for giving me a
platform to share the research findings and do the
From local people’s perception residing in the Valley, research independently. Also, I am thankful to the
springs were the source for 205 stone spouts followed university student citizen scientists for their effort in
by state canal, piped supply and others (ponds, tanks, the successful completion of the month-long stone
unidentified, and other). A similar result was obtained spout and land-use classification campaigns.
by a study conducted by Tripathi (2016) in the
Bhaktapur area which showed that most of the stone VI. REFERENCES
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287 stone spouts surveyed, in post-monsoon period,

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[11] UN-HABITAT (2008) Water movement in Patan with [13] Ishtiaque, A., Shrestha, M. and Chhetri, N. (2017) Rapid
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