1.2 Contact details of resource persons and institutions involved in the assessment and documentation of the Technology

Name of project which facilitated the documentation/ evaluation of the Technology (if relevant)

Resilient Mountain Solutions Initiative, ICIMOD (RMS initiative)

Name of the institution(s) which facilitated the documentation/ evaluation of the Technology (if relevant)

ICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) - Nepal

1.3 Conditions regarding the use of data documented through WOCAT

The compiler and key resource person(s) accept the conditions regarding the use of data documented through WOCAT:

Yes

1.4 Declaration on sustainability of the described Technology

Is the Technology described here problematic with regard to land degradation, so that it cannot be declared a sustainable land management technology?

No

2.1 Short description of the Technology

Definition of the Technology:

A soil cement water collection pond to store rainwater, runoff and household kitchen waste water free from soap and detergent for supplemental irrigation purpose during dry seasons.

2.2 Detailed description of the Technology

Description:

In Nepal's mid-hills mountain farmers face problems during dry seasons to irrigate their fields, as they entirely depend on rain- water. Soil cement water collection pond are ideal to tackle this challenge, as they can capture excess rainfall during monsoon, which is later available during prolonged seasonal water shortage.

The Resilient Mountain Village (RMV) project of ICIMOD together with its local partner, CEAPRED tested and demonstrated soil cement ponds with a capacity of 24000 liters. The conservation ponds were used for irrigating high value off-season horticultural crops (vegetables, fruit, and spices). These crops were irrigated with drip irrigation and micro sprinklers. The ponds were fed from rainwater, upland springs and taps, and household wastewater from kitchen free from soap and detergent. They were established during the dry season during 3 months. They were prepared by selecting a suitable site with a sufficient catchment; mapping out the area and depth of the pond; digging out the soil; removing protruding stones and roots; and compacting and smoothing the sides and bottom of the pond. Then gravel and pebbles were used for the base and the floor and side walls were leveled off. Initial mixture of soil, sand and cement (3:3:1) was applied to roughly plaster all the side walls and gravel was mixed in the mixture while plastering the floor. The following day, the roughly plastered pond was watered and was covered with wet jute sack to keep it moist. This was continued for 3-4 days. Then again a second mixture of soil, sand and cement (2:2:1) was applied to smoothly plaster the floor and side walls. The pond was watered for the next 3-4 days and was covered with wet jute sacks. Around 4-5 days after the second plaster, the pond was filled with water. For safety, pond was enclosed with a gabion wire/ bamboo fence (or using any locally available material). The total establishment cost for a soil cement pond with 24000 liters capacity was USD 311.

The main maintenance activity was to maintain the gabion wire/bamboo fence to prevent livestock and people from entering the pond, and to remove the sediment that accumulates in the pond. The sediment has to be removed once a year carefully by hand and if cracks occur, it should be sealed with a mixture of soil, sand and cement (3:3:1). The total annual maintenance cost for 24000 liters soil cement tank was USD 68.

This technology has somehow helped small-land holding farmers to irrigate their rain-fed land during dry months which has increased the crop production and their income as well.

Land user's particularly liked that their production increased and that they were able to grow up to three crops per year. Trough this the farmers were able to diversify their crops, and they were less vulnerable to the dry season. In addition, soil cement water ponds are more efficient than plastic-lined conservation ponds which are easily damaged by rats. Although cost effective, the fixed price for this technology is quite high, particularly for smallholder farmers. To lessen this financial burden, local governments can provide subsidies to women and marginalized groups interested in this technology. Self-help groups with a revolving grants system would help expand the use of these ponds and ensure sustained use across Nepal.

2.3 Photos of the Technology

2.5 Country/ region/ locations where the Technology has been applied and which are covered by this assessment

2.6 Date of implementation

If precise year is not known, indicate approximate date:

• less than 10 years ago (recently)

2.7 Introduction of the Technology

Specify how the Technology was introduced:

• through projects/ external interventions

Comments (type of project, etc.):

ICIMOD demonstrated this technology through the program of Resilient Mountain Village (RMV) with the help of its implementing local partner, The Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED) in its pilot project sites in Kavrepalanchok district.

3.1 Main purpose(s) of the Technology

• improve production

• Improve water availability during dry seasons

3.2 Current land use type(s) where the Technology is applied

Land use mixed within the same land unit:

No

3.3 Has land use changed due to the implementation of the Technology?

Has land use changed due to the implementation of the Technology?

• No (Continue with question 3.4)

3.4 Water supply

Water supply for the land on which the Technology is applied:

• rainfed

3.5 SLM group to which the Technology belongs

• water harvesting
• irrigation management (incl. water supply, drainage)

3.6 SLM measures comprising the Technology

3.7 Main types of land degradation addressed by the Technology

3.8 Prevention, reduction, or restoration of land degradation

Specify the goal of the Technology with regard to land degradation:

• reduce land degradation

4.1 Technical drawing of the Technology

4.2 General information regarding the calculation of inputs and costs

Specify how costs and inputs were calculated:

• per Technology area

Specify currency used for cost calculations:

• USD

4.3 Establishment activities

	Activity	Timing (season)
1.	Select a preferably stable ground with a sufficient catchment area	dry months
2.	Measure the area to be irrigated and estimate the size of the pond	dry months
3.	Measure and mark out the pond	1st day
4.	Dig out the soil to the pre-determined depth and remove protruding stones and roots	1st day
5.	Compacting and smoothing the sides and bottom of the pond	2nd day
6.	Apply initial mixture of soil, sand, cement (3:3:1) to roughly plaster all the the side walls and mix gravel in the mixture while plastering the floor.	2nd day
7.	The following day, the roughly plastered pond should be watered and covered with wet jute sack to keep it moist. This should be continued for 3-4 days.	3rd day
8.	Apply a second mixture of soil, sand, and cement (2:2:1) to smoothly plaster the floor and side walls.	5th day
9.	Water the pond for the next 3-4 days and cover with wet jute sack.	8th day
10.	Around 4-5 days of second plaster, fill the pond with water.	13th day
11.	For safety, the pond can be enclosed with gabion wire/ bamboo fence (or using other locally available materials)	14th day

4.4 Costs and inputs needed for establishment

	Specify input	Unit	Quantity	Costs per Unit	Total costs per input	% of costs borne by land users
Labour	Dig out pond	persons/unit	7.0	5.68	39.76	100.0
Labour	Stone soiling	persons/unit	1.0	8.74	8.74
Labour	Cementing	persons/unit	10.0	8.74	87.4
Labour	Wiring	persons/unit	2.0	8.74	17.48
Equipment	Spade	piece	3.0	2.0	6.0	100.0
Equipment	Measuring tape	piece	2.0	1.0	2.0	100.0
Equipment	Shovel	piece	3.0	7.0	21.0	100.0
Equipment	Hammer	piece	3.0	4.0	12.0	100.0
Equipment	Cement mixing iron pan	piece	2.0	3.0	6.0	100.0
Equipment	Trowel	piece	3.0	2.0	6.0	100.0
Construction material	Sand	bags	24.0	0.87	20.88
Construction material	Cement	bags	6.0	7.43	44.58
Construction material	Water proofing liquid	bottle	1.0	2.62	2.62
Construction material	Gabion wire sheets	sq.ft	120.0	0.31	37.2
Total costs for establishment of the Technology					311.66
Total costs for establishment of the Technology in USD					311.66

If land user bore less than 100% of costs, indicate who covered the remaining costs:

The Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED) covered the remaining cost

Comments:

Duration of establishment phase: 3 month(s)

4.5 Maintenance/ recurrent activities

	Activity	Timing/ frequency
1.	Maintain and repair wire fence to prevent livestock and humans from entering the pond	once in a year
2.	Removing accumulated sediment once a year carefully by hand	dry months/once in a year

4.6 Costs and inputs needed for maintenance/ recurrent activities (per year)

	Specify input	Unit	Quantity	Costs per Unit	Total costs per input	% of costs borne by land users
Labour	Clean and maintaining the pond	persons/unit	3.0	5.68	17.04	100.0
Labour	Maintain and repair wire fence	persons/unit	2.0	7.0	14.0	100.0
Construction material	Gabion wire	sq.ft	120.0	0.31	37.2	100.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology					68.24
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology in USD					68.24

Comments:

The cost given above is for unit technology having 24000 liters capacity as in 2020.

4.7 Most important factors affecting the costs

Describe the most determinate factors affecting the costs:

Cost of cement and sand
Members of a household contributed as labour in all sites.

5.1 Climate

5.2 Topography

Indicate if the Technology is specifically applied in:

• not relevant

5.3 Soils

If available, attach full soil description or specify the available information, e.g. soil type, soil PH/ acidity, Cation Exchange Capacity, nitrogen, salinity etc.

Soil fertility is medium

Soil drainage / infiltration is good

Soil water storage capacity is medium

5.4 Water availability and quality

Is water salinity a problem?

No

Is flooding of the area occurring?

No

Comments and further specifications on water quality and quantity:

Water source is mainly spring.
More in rainy season (June- September), less in April/May; source: spring

5.5 Biodiversity

Comments and further specifications on biodiversity:

Nepal harbors 3.2 % and 1.1 % world's known flora and fauna respectively despite occupying only 0.1 % of global area. Particularly, beta diversity is high in Nepal (BCN and DNPWC, 2011).

5.6 Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Indicate other relevant characteristics of the land users:

Land users applying the Technology are mainly common / average land users

Population density: 154 - 453 persons per km2 ( Census, 2011)

Annual population growth : 2% - 3%

Among 100% land users, 80% of the land users are average wealthy and own 90% of the land (ranked by land users). 20% of the land users are poor and own 10% of the land.

Off-farm income specification:
Occasional opportunities for off-farm income present themselves in the form of daily labour wages.
Due to loss of farmland and increasing urbanization and loss of farmlands many people are switching from agriculture to non-farm occupations such as working in brick kilns.
The opening of the BP Highway has led to the establishment of many hotels and restaurants and the development of local market places such as Bhakundebesi.
Most local businesspersons are small entrepreneurs with limited investment capacity.
Some households’ members receive regular salaries, whilst an increasing number of Nepalis are working in India, the Middle East, Malaysia, and elsewhere and sending remittance incomes home.

Market orientation of production system: Vegetables- commercial


Level of mechanization: Manual labor consists of planting, irrigation , harvesting, while field preparation is carried out by animals, also machines but just in valley bottom.

5.7 Average area of land used by land users applying the Technology

5.8 Land ownership, land use rights, and water use rights

Land ownership:

• individual, titled

Land use rights:

• individual

Water use rights:

• open access (unorganized)
• communal (organized)

Are land use rights based on a traditional legal system?

Yes

5.9 Access to services and infrastructure

Comments:

Health facilities: There are nine health facilities centre in Namobuddha municipality, Kavre. The main health facilities are Methinkot Hospital, which is a 15-bed district level government hospital, and Dapcha Health Center, which is run by Kathmandu.

Education: There are eight academic institutes for higher studies ( higher secondary schools and colleges). The main academic institutes are:
Dapcha Krishna
Multiple Campus (community), Dapcha;
Janahit Secondary School (public), Khanalthok
Janak Multiple Campus (community), Methinkot
Janak Secondary School (public), Methinkot
Kanpur Campus(community), Kanpur and
Kanpur Secondary School
(public), Kanpur.

Employment ( off-farm): Due to loss of farmlands and increasing urbanization, many people are switching from agriculture to non-farm occupations such as working in brick kilns. The opening of the BP Highway has led to the establishment of many hotels and restaurants and the development of local market places such as Bhakundebesi. Most local businesspersons are small entrepreneurs with limited investment capacity.

Market: Bhakundebesi is the emerging marketplace due to its strategic location in the middle of the municipality astrid the BP Highway. Most local business activities in the municipality take place in Bhakundebesi bazaar. It is a major place for local people to purchase consumer goods.

Energy
Cooking fuel:
In 2011, 88% of households mainly used firewood for cooking, followed by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (4.92%). In Puranogaun Dapcha, almost all households (99.8%) relied on firewood for cooking. LPG was relatively popular in Dapcha Chatrebhanjh (10.3%) and Khanalthok (11.5%). Less than 6% of households used biogas for cooking, with its use relatively high in Mathurapati Fulbari (19.3%) and Methinkot (15.9%) (CBS, 2011).

Lighting :
93% of households used electricity for lighting while 5% depended on kerosene. Dependency on kerosene was relatively high in Khanalthok (8.1%) and Methinkot (7.4%). There was little solar lighting except for in Khanalthok where 3% of households relied on it (CBS, 2011).

Roads and Transportation:
Namobuddha Municipality is easily accessible by motorable road from neighboring areas via the BP Highway, which splits the municipality into almost two equal halves . The highway, which runs from Banepa to Bardibas in the Terai, is the shortest route from the Kathmandu Valley to the eastern hills and Terai. The limited width of the road and its sharp bends mean that public transportation along the BP Highway is mostly by small buses and jeeps.

Drinking water and Sanitation:
In 2011, about 60% of households had access to taps or piped water with accessibility varying across the municipality. While about 80% of PuranogauDapcha households had taps or piped water, only 37.5% of households in Simalchour Syampati enjoyed such services. Other sources of drinking water were covered wells (12.3%), uncovered wells (20.2%) and water spouts (6.3%). Methinkot (40.8%) and Simalchour Syampati (31.4%) residents were most reliant on uncovered wells. Covered wells served sizeable household populations in Dapcha Chatrebhanjh (35.3%) and Simalchour Syampati (23%) (CBS, 2011).

Toilet facilities: In 2011, about 63% of households had accessto toilet facilities, with about 40% overall having flushtoilets. The least toilet coverage was in Kanpur Kalapaniand Simalchour Syampati VDCs where 63% and 58% ofhouseholds respectively did not have their own toilets. Almost all households in Puranogaun Dapcha had their own toilets, mostly flush toilets (CBS, 2011).


Waste Management: – Namobuddha is in the early phase of urbanization with no systematic waste management.The Municipality Office is searching for a landfill site.

6.1 On-site impacts the Technology has shown

Socio-economic impacts

Production

Water availability and quality

Income and costs

Socio-cultural impacts

Ecological impacts

Soil

6.2 Off-site impacts the Technology has shown

6.3 Exposure and sensitivity of the Technology to gradual climate change and climate-related extremes/ disasters (as perceived by land users)

Gradual climate change

Gradual climate change

	Season	increase or decrease	How does the Technology cope with it?
annual temperature		increase	not known

Climate-related extremes (disasters)

Meteorological disasters

	How does the Technology cope with it?
local rainstorm	well
local windstorm	well

Climatological disasters

	How does the Technology cope with it?
drought	moderately

Hydrological disasters

	How does the Technology cope with it?
general (river) flood	not well

Other climate-related extremes (disasters)

other (specify)	How does the Technology cope with it?
reducing growing period	well

6.4 Cost-benefit analysis

How do the benefits compare with the establishment costs (from land users’ perspective)?

How do the benefits compare with the maintenance/ recurrent costs (from land users' perspective)?

6.5 Adoption of the Technology

• > 50%

Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many did so spontaneously, i.e. without receiving any material incentives/ payments?

• 11-50%

Comments:

Till now 24 land user families of Namobuddha Municipality have adopted this technology.
Among 24 land user families, 18 have adopted this technology with external material support through Resilient Mountain Village (RMV) project and 6 land users families have adopted this technology without any external support.

Comments on spontaneous adoption (Through survey results) : There is no trend towards spontaneous adoption of the technology because this technology is quiet expensive, compared to plastic- lined conservation pond.

6.6 Adaptation

Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?

No

6.7 Strengths/ advantages/ opportunities of the Technology

Strengths/ advantages/ opportunities in the land user’s view
Water stored in this tank is sufficient to irrigate 2-3 ropani (1 ropani = 508 sq.m.) land in one season.
This technology can be enhanced by sharing the advantages of this technology with large number of people.
It is more sustainable and efficient than plastic-lined conservation pond.

Strengths/ advantages/ opportunities in the compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
Good income can be achieved even from a small piece of land by sales of vegetables in the dry season .
These ponds are fed with rainwater and household kitchen wastewater free from soap and detergent and from springs and taps. The pond water was mainly used for micro irrigation including drip irrigation and micro-sprinkler.
It helps to promote the use of other water conserving techniques like mulching when using the harvested water.
It has reduced the dependence on large scale water supply schemes.
How can they be sustained / enhanced? Harvest all possible sources of water.

6.8 Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks of the Technology and ways of overcoming them

Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks in the land user’s view	How can they be overcome?
Soil cement tank is expensive for poor farmers.	Subsidized cost for poor farmers.
It is unsafe for small children.	Protection structures should be constructed.

Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks in the compiler’s or other key resource person’s view	How can they be overcome?
Cement and sand rate is very expensive for poor farmers.	Make it available in the local market at a subsidized cost for poor farmers.
The ponds attract insects, mainly mosquitoes, that cause disease; and the ponds are unsafe for small children.	Regularly clean the pond and fence them.

7.1 Methods/ sources of information

7.2 References to available publications

Title, author, year, ISBN:

ICIMOD (2018) Building Mountain Resilience: Solutions from the Hindu Kush Himalaya. Kathmandu: ICIMOD

Available from where? Costs?

ICIMOD

Title, author, year, ISBN:

SCWMC (2004) Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Measures and Low Cost Techniques. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Component - Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management

Available from where? Costs?

DSCWM, Kathmandu

7.3 Links to relevant online information

Title/ description:

Namobuddha Municipality, Nepal Situation Analysis for Green Municipal Development, 2018

URL:

https://gggi.org/site/assets/uploads/2018/07/GGGI_GMD-Assessment_Namobuddha.pdf

Title/ description:

Farmers in Kavre reaping benefits from soil cement tanks, 2021

URL:

https://www.icimod.org/article/farmers-in-kavre-reaping-the-benefits-of-soil-cement-tanks/