The week-long celebration of the tenth Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2018 (NNWWW-2018) held from 17 to 23 March included various programs such as the “Walk for Water”, मौसम १.0 (National Hydro-Meteorological Exhibition -2018) at Tri Chandra College, 9th National Groundwater Symposium, Hike to Chisapani, SDG Confab, Symposium on Management of Water Resources and Federal System in Nepal, Workshop on Customization of weather information and climate services to Smallholder farmers and National Symposium on Hydrology and Meteorology, 2018.
The opening of week-long celebration of The Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW-2018) was held on March 17, 2018 at the Department of Irrigation (DoI), Jawalakhel. The Honourable Minister, Mr. Lal Babu Pandit, Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration inaugurated the opening ceremony. Around 100 participants including Government officials, water experts from the NGOs, INGOs, journalists and students were present in the event.
Before the opening ceremony, a walkathon was held from Maitighar to DoI. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the NNWWW under the chairmanship of Water and Energy Secretariat (WECS), Ministry of Energy and Water Resources. The theme for this year’s World Water Day is “Nature for water” and for World Meteorological Day is “Weather Ready, Climate Smart”.
On the same day, a public awareness campaign called the “Walk for Water” was organized by WaterAid Nepal and The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) at Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur. The main motive of this campaign was to highlight the struggles faced by rural people who have to walk long distance to fetch water. Over 50 participants from all walks of life (age 10-70 years) were able to grasp the gist of the initiative.
On March 18, 2018 मौसम १.0 (National Hydro-Meteorological exhibition-2018) was organized by Students’ Organization of Meteorology (SOM) marking the 10th Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2018 (NNWWW-2018) within Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus premises. The students were facilitated to listen and inherit valuable and effective words by the chief guest Honourable Minister Barsha Man Pun ‘Ananta’, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation .
To commemorate the third day of NNWWW-2018, a hike was organized by SEN with the “Hike for Nature: Nature for Water”. A total of 11 participants engaged in a one-day hike to Dhaap- a wetland in Chisapani. Upon arrival at the destination, a brief session of knowledge sharing was carried out among the participants.
To mark the fourth day of NNWWW-2018, 9th National Groundwater Symposium highlighting the Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Groundwater Resources Management in Nepal was held in Radisson Hotel, Lazimpat. This event was organized by Center of Research for Environment, Energy and Water(CREEW), SEN, Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Management Board and Ground Water Resources Development Board.
The fifth day of the Nepal National Water and Weather Week 2018 (NNWWW-2018) was commemorated by hosting a one-day workshop on the topic “SDG Confab: Synergizing Efforts towards Achieving SDG-6 and SDG-13 in Nepal”. The program was organized by SEN and supported by Water Aid Nepal, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and SNV Nepal at Hotel Himalaya, Kupondole. The program was successful in addressing the burning issues related to SDG-6 and SDG-13. The expertise shared by well-renowned personalities played a pivotal role in raising discussions among the audience, presenters and panellists.
Moreover, the sixth day also the World Water day, 2018 was marked by a Symposium on Management of Water Resources and Federal System in Nepal organized by the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) at Indreni Complex, Newbaneshor, Kathmandu.
The closing ceremony of the week-long celebration of the Nepal National Water and Weather Week (NNWWW-2018) was held on March 23, 2018 at the Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur. Over 150 participants including Government officials, water experts from various I/NGOs, journalists and students were present in the event.
The Honourable Minister, Mr. Barsha Man Pun “Ananta”, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation inaugurated the closing ceremony on March 23, 2018. He applauded a week-long celebration under the chairmanship of WECS to make this world-wide celebration of Water Day and Meteorological Day. He stressed that water quality and quantity is a part of civilization but unfortunately, we are not being able to distribute safe drinking water at a household level. Before the closing ceremony there were two technical session were organized.
The first part of the technical session was chaired by Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha. It comprised of an engaging workshop namely “Customization of weather information and climate services to Smallholder farmers”. Mr. Dhiraj Pradhananga, President of SEN along with Mr. Piyush Dahal, Research Co-ordinator from SEN gave a presentation on the topic. Dr. Archana Shrestha, Senior Divisional Meteorologist from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) also provided insights regarding weather forecast dissemination.
Similarly, the second part of the technical session contained the “National Symposium on Hydrology and Meteorology-2018”. The former sub-session of the Symposium was chaired by Er. Kiran Shankar Yogacharya. There were multiple presentations delivered by participants from Practical Action Nepal, Kathmandu University (KU) and DHM. Similarly, the latter sub-session of the Symposium was chaired by Prof. Suresh Raj Chalise who delivered crucial remarks on the progress and challenges faced in the hydrology and meteorology sectors of Nepal. This session was followed by a brief discussion in Poster Presentation Section where an interactive engagement was noticed among the participants and distinguished guests.
