scholarly journals Assessment of Bagmati river pollution in Kathmandu Valley: Scenario-based modeling and analysis for sustainable urban development

2017 ◽  
Vol 9-10 ◽  
pp. 67-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binaya K. Mishra ◽  
Ram K. Regmi ◽  
Yoshifumi Masago ◽  
Kensuke Fukushi ◽  
Pankaj Kumar ◽  
...  
2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 209-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.-R. Ha ◽  
D. Pokhrel

This research was conducted to identify the critical pollution (BOD, TN, TP) areas and to develop the priority mitigation zone for the Bagmati River pollution in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal. A GIS tool was used to define and identify the critical pollution areas and sources. Pollution source information such as population, livestock, industry and land use were collected on the basis of the individual village boundary. The industrial, land use and living pollution were aggregated by the GIS overlay analysis capability to obtain the combined pollution load within the watershed. Priority areas for the mitigation of the pollution were defined considering the pollution loading rate, distance of stream from pollution source, and political, religious, and touristic values of the area. This research noticed that Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur municipalities are the major polluting areas and living beings are the major factors of Bagmati River pollution. Delivery ratio for the watershed was found to vary from 40-69% for BOD and nitrogen but the delivery of phosphorus was exceptionally high (92% at Gaurighat and 77% at Chovar) due to cremation activity of the Hindu religion on the riverbanks. Thus, the priority areas for the mitigation of the carbonaceous and nutrient source pollution were identified. At present the land use and industry impaired a very low contribution compared to the huge pollution load from the municipalities to the river system.


2000 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Jnawali ◽  
K. Busch

The environmental geological map of the Kathmandu Valley at a scale of 1:50,000 was prepared during a Technical Co­Operation Project of the Department of Mines and Geology (DMG) of Nepal and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany. This map is meant to draw attention to the natural environmental risks and hazards, as well as to recommend measures for the protection of important natural resources in the Kathmandu Valley. This thematic map is addressed mainly to governmental agencies and consultants, who can use the map as a database for planning purposes, especially for planning new settlement areas and various types of infrastructure. The map shows the locations of clay, sand, limestone, groundwater, and forest. These resources are very important for the economic development of the Kathmandu Valley. They need protection against the haphazard growth of settlement areas. In the case of mining, environmentally sound methods with monitoring and supervision is recommended. Areas to be considered for agricultural use (rain-fed or irrigation) are also delineated. The map also shows areas of geological hazards and related environmental problems from floods, landslides, and liquefaction of soils. Pollution caused by human activities, such as river pollution, and areas of uncontrolled landfills are also indicated. Pollution of the Bagmati River and its tributaries and the resulting degradation of water quality is a burning issue in the Kathmandu Valley. Rapid urbanisation and increasing volume of industrial and municipal wastes have drastically changed the sacred river into an open sewer. The map has already been used for the general assessment of the environmental geological risks in 27 new settlement areas in the Kathmandu region. This study realised that there is a conflict with other competing interests. e.g., the interests of the landowners. The promotion and implementation of environmentally sound recommendations is very complicated and politically sensitive. Nevertheless, these difficulties should not discourage the planners, because the promotion of environmentally sound aspects is for the long-term benefit of the whole population of the area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Rebecca Oberreiter

Rapidly changing framework conditions for city development such as globalization, demographic trends, deindustrialization, technological developments or the increasing urbanization as well as the economic, social and political changes are profound and change our urban life. This leads, that the cities of tomorrow will differ essentially from today´s city principles. Therefore innovative, strategically wise and quick action becomes a criterion for success. Here, more than ever, local conditions and requirements must be taken into account as well as global framework conditions. The responsible parties have to set the course so that the “City” remains competitive and sustainable in the future. Therefore, innovation processes and sustainable strategies for dealing with the diverse and complex agendas of a city in dialogue with those who are responsible for it must be initiated and management systems established so that new things can develop continuously and systematically. This work illustrates how the boundaries created to manage and market future liveable and sustainable city destinations are the root of the practical and academic problems that trouble city management these days.  This paper aims to develop the new integrated Smart Urban Profiling and Management model, which presents a new integrated approach for city marketing as an instrument of sustainable urban development. In this way, comprehensive research was conducted to evaluate if the holistic city marketing concept that integrates elements of smart city strategies and adaptive management is a more suitable instrument and integrative process than conventional city marketing in order to improve the sustainable urban development. Therefore, in this work, the designed “Smart Urban Profiling and Management model” for city management introduces an alternative and holistic perspective that allows transcending past boundaries and thus getting closer to the real complexities of managing city development in dynamic systems. The results offer the opportunity to recognize the city and consequently allow to developing successful strategies and implementation measures. This study targets to contribute to this endeavor in order to produce new impulses and incitements in the city management field and shall provide a fresh impetus for a new understanding of city marketing as the initiator of development processes, mobilization and moderator in concerning communication and participation processes. This paper is written from a perspective addressing those responsible for the city- management, city- & urban marketing and development.


Author(s):  
Simona Popa-Albu ◽  
Mihaela Pisleaga ◽  
Adrian Tenchea

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 766
Author(s):  
Yuanmao Zheng ◽  
Qiang Zhou ◽  
Yuanrong He ◽  
Cuiping Wang ◽  
Xiaorong Wang ◽  
...  

Quantitative and accurate urban land information on regional and global scales is urgently required for studying socioeconomic and eco-environmental problems. The spatial distribution of urban land is a significant part of urban development planning, which is vital for optimizing land use patterns and promoting sustainable urban development. Composite nighttime light (NTL) data from the Defense Meteorological Program Operational Line-Scan System (DMSP-OLS) have been proven to be effective for extracting urban land. However, the saturation and blooming within the DMSP-OLS NTL hinder its capacity to provide accurate urban information. This paper proposes an optimized approach that combines NTL with multiple index data to overcome the limitations of extracting urban land based only on NTL data. We combined three sources of data, the DMSP-OLS, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the normalized difference water index (NDWI), to establish a novel approach called the vegetation–water-adjusted NTL urban index (VWANUI), which is used to rapidly extract urban land areas on regional and global scales. The results show that the proposed approach reduces the saturation of DMSP-OLS and essentially eliminates blooming effects. Next, we developed regression models based on the normalized DMSP-OLS, the human settlement index (HSI), the vegetation-adjusted NTL urban index (VANUI), and the VWANUI to analyze and estimate urban land areas. The results show that the VWANUI regression model provides the highest performance of all the models tested. To summarize, the VWANUI reduces saturation and blooming, and improves the accuracy with which urban areas are extracted, thereby providing valuable support and decision-making references for designing sustainable urban development.


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