With an aim to train local masons on construction of Climate Adaptive Water Management Practices in Dharan was conducted on 11 June 2018. This training was organized as part of DharanPaniChautri -5. This event was organized by Dharan Sub Metropolitan city and Dharan Water Supply Management Board in facilitation of Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS). More than 30 masons of Dharan participated in the training.
In the first half of the session, researcher at SIAS Kaustuv Raj Neupane presented the importance of recharge pit and feasibility in Dharan. He mentioned that in an average 900 new houses per year are being constructed in Dharan and they cover nearly 1000 sq feet of land. With rapid concretization of land, the storm water volume rises and consequently the volume of water that infiltrates has been reduced. In contrary, in Dharan, dependency on ground water extraction has raised. He also stated masons are the real hero to convince the house owners and true message carriers about importance of the recharge pits. Another speaker, Bal Krishna Karki, Chief of housing map permit section, stated the recharge pit has been made compulsory to include in the designs and now will be made compulsory in practice too. During this workshop, hands-on practice was also provided to masons.
Ms. Manju Bhandari Subedi, Deputy Mayor of Dharan gave her remarks and handover the certificates to the participants. She thanked SIAS for bringing simple yet innovative idea and trained the local masons about it. She requested masons to implement the policy and hope to see recharge pits being constructed in new homes in future.
Mr. Bal Kumar Shrestha, President of Central Union Of Painters, Plumbers, Electro and Construction Workers Nepal (CUPPEC), Sunsari district, expressed that it was innovative concept. He further opined that till date they were constructing houses for the house owners but the recharge pit is for us and for our future generation. He stated CUPPEC members will implement this practice and convince house owners about its importance.
