January 2024

Water Heritage Scavenger Hunt – Know Your City

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By Sudeep Duwal and Rohinee Bishwas Mandal

Smartphones For Water Nepal (S4W-Nepal), in collaboration with Walk to Connect and Nepal Scout Pioneer Open Crew, successfully organized the Water Heritage Scavenger Hunt event in Bhaktapur on October 17, 2023. The primary objective of the campaign was to unveil the various facets (historical, socio-cultural, and architectural) of the traditional Hiti system of the ancient city of Bhaktapur. The Hiti system, a traditional water management system in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, comprises several components: raajkulo: the canals, pukhu: the ponds, hiti: the spouts, tunchhi: the groundwater wells, athal: filtration chamber, Jahru: water storage tanks, and dhown: the drains. The event was intricately designed to explore and gather information about traditional water resources through hiking with the students, scouts, young researchers, cultural activists, and experts in the alleys of Bhaktapur. Furthermore, the event focused on introducing school students and youths to the traditional hiti system through interactive challenges, expert consultation, and a community-based questionnaire survey.

Schematic diagram of traditional Hiti system. [Photo: P.S. Joshi]

The exploration of water heritage commenced at, Siddhapokhari (Ta: pukhu), the largest pukhu in Bhaktapur located on the western side, and concluded at the Bhisindhyo hiti in Dattatreya Square on the eastern side of Bhaktapur. Sixty-three students from various schools who actively participated in the event were divided into ten groups. The participants had to navigate their designated routes, uncovering the water heritage by following marked directions along the way. They gathered information about the water heritage through a questionnaire survey, engaging with local residents and tackling tricky puzzles during their journey. At culturally significant water heritage sites, resource persons shared profound insight into the remarkable history, interesting stories, experiences, management practices, and current status of the water heritage of Bhaktapur.

Resource person Mr. Om Prasad Dhaubhadel sharing his knowledge and experience with students.

A total of 23 hitis, 11 pukhus, 8 jahrus, and more than 15 tunchhis were explored during the water heritage hunt. The participants witnessed the marvelous architecture, religious and cultural aspects, and aesthetic beauty of traditional water heritage. Each site depicted a glimpse of the history and intricate traditional water management system of Bhaktapur. However, it was noted that many of these water heritages were in a vulnerable state with damaged and eroded structures, dried hitis and pukhus, stolen idols, etc., emphasizing the need for diligent attention toward their renovation, revitalization, and preservation.

Students interviewing the local residents about the water heritage at Bhajya Pukhu.

This initiative is believed to foster curiosity and concern about traditional water resources among future generations, communities, and stakeholders. This campaign has bridged between researchers, cultural activists, experts, and students for future collaboration to preserve and promote the astounding water heritage of Bhaktapur City. Moreover, it was fascinating to observe the students’ enthusiasm to interact with communities and experts, undoubtedly bolstering their teamwork practices, creative thinking capacity, and participation in interactive activities. Most importantly, it provided them with valuable insight into the hiti system and its management practices.

Group photo at Dattatreya square during the closing ceremony.

S4W-Nepal is thankful to Walk to Connect for the collaborative opportunity in this impactful awareness campaign. Additionally, S4W-Nepal would also like to acknowledge Nepal Scout Pioneer Open Crew, Temple and Statue Directory, #365daysofexploringbhaktapur, Bhaktapur.com, and  Bhaktapur Tourism Development Committee for their support in making this campaign possible. Moreover, special thanks to the resource persons Mr. Om Prasad Daubhadel and Mr. Ram Sundar Bhele for their contribution and insightful sharing of the water heritage in Bhaktapur.

Reference
Joshi, J. (2015) Preserving the Hiti, Ancient Water Spout System of Nepal. In: Australia ICOMOC Conference, November 2015. Adelaide: ICOMOS Australia.n: Demos.

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Empowering Citizen Scientists in Sustainable Water Resource Management: An Impactful Journey of Susa Manandhar

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All scientists are citizens, but not all scientists are Citizen Scientists (Stilgoe, 2009). Citizen Scientists are the people who collaborate with professional scientists to collect and analyze scientific data. The daily life of the citizens is connected with scientific inquiries about the environment, exploring questions related to how, where, when, who, and what. Engaging as a citizen scientist allows these individuals to personally answer these questions. More essentially, citizen scientists are a great help to scientists in collecting extensive data that would otherwise be impractical for scientists to obtain due to constraints in time and resources. Also, the perspectives and experiential knowledge of citizen scientists involved in environment monitoring can offer valuable insights for the sustainable application of the citizen science approach.

Susa Manandhar, a dedicated citizen scientist with Smartphones For Water Nepal (S4W-Nepal), shares six years of experience collecting daily rainfall and monthly groundwater level measurements. A Kathmandu resident and recent graduate in Meteorology from Trichandra Multiple Campus, Kathmandu, Nepal, Susa looks forward to pursuing a Master’s degree in the Cryosphere. Currently a Program Assistant at Small Earth Nepal (SEN), she not only excels professionally but also enjoys exploring new places, both within and outside the country.

Susa became involved as an S4W-Nepal citizen scientist during the 2018 monsoon expedition outreach campaign at Trichandra Multiple Campus. Since then, she has regularly collected rainfall measurements in the monsoon season (May to September). Simultaneously, in 2019, she learned more about citizen science-based groundwater monitoring in the Kathmandu Valley through the S4W-Nepal Facebook page. Susa actively participates in the groundwater monitoring campaign and regularly monitors the groundwater level at her residence. She shared a heartwarming experience about how her parents reminded her to take rainfall and groundwater measurements each time she forgot. Sometimes, her parents took measurements and shared the data with her whenever she was unable to do so. Her contribution to the citizen science campaign won’t stop there; she plays a vital role as a college representative, facilitating the monsoon expedition outreach campaign at her college. Furthermore, she is also an Executive Member of the Young Researchers’ Circle (YRC), a research group formed by S4W-Nepal.

Ms. Susa Manandhar (on the left) with fellow citizen scientists during the Citizen Scientists Celebration 2021. [Photo: S4W-Nepal]

According to her, becoming a citizen scientist provides her with a sense of responsibility to carefully monitor the surrounding environment. With a background in meteorology, she understands the crucial role of hydro-meteorological data in climate change analysis, hazard assessment, and daily weather forecasting. The potential applications to achieve sustainable water resource management from the data collected by her and other citizen scientists further motivated her to regularly monitor the water parameters. In her six-year journey as a citizen scientist, she has always passionately participated in S4W-Nepal’s campaigns, events, and training. In recognition of her unwavering dedication, she was honored with the ‘Citizen Scientist of the Year 2021’ award.

Susa conveyed her happiness and satisfaction in being part of the initiative. She requested her fellow citizen scientists to stay motivated and continue data collection, emphasizing the positive impact their data has been making. Furthermore, she suggested S4W-Nepal to provide timely updates, information, and results of the citizen scientists’ data through various platforms, including the website, and social media. Additionally, she looks forward to continuing with the same enthusiasm and passion in the upcoming years.

Reference
Stilgoe, J. (2009). Citizen Scientists: reconnecting science with civil society. London: Demos.

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